In philosophy journals, one occasionally sees things like this:
Necessarily, x is an F if and only if x satisfies each of the following n conditions:I hypothesize that every philosophical claim of this form that has ever been made in print by a Western philosopher with the number of conditions n greater than or equal to 4 is:
(i) ...
(ii) ...
(iii) ...
(iv) ...
...
- false, and/or
- stipulative, and/or
- circular, and/or
- redundant.
My evidence for the hypothesis is inductive. I have never seen a correct, non-stipulative, non-circular and non-redundant set of necessary and sufficient conditions for anything philosophical where there are more than three conditions.
It could be that the hypothesis is false. Is there a counterexample?