Definitions for "Reductio ad absurdum"
a.k.a.: Reduce to the Absurd C&P page: 149 Definition: A method of establishing the validity of an argument by showing that its premises are not logically consistent with a rejection (negation) of its conclusion. Comment: Or, in other words, accepting the premises contradicts rejecting the conclusion. The way reductio shows this is by combining the premises with the negation of the conclusion, and showing that this leads to a self- contradiction.
(reduction to the absurd) a disproof by showing that the consequences of the proposition are absurd; or a proff of a proposition by showing that its negation leads to a contradiction
A form of argument in which, rather than directly prove a conclusion, the arguer reduces the contrary conclusion to an absurdity. Hence it is also called indirect argument or argument from the impossibility of the contrary, VT believed that all transcendental arguments must take this form. Frame disagrees.