CIRCLE, VIRTUOUS

circle, virtuous: translation

A virtuous circle is a circular definition or argument whose circularity does not matter for the purpose at hand. For example, in the definition ‘ x is boring if and only if x seems boring to most people in standard conditions’, the term ‘boring’ reappears, but the definition may have some limited use for all that, depending upon the purposes for which the equation is needed. See also circle, vicious.