No, precisely right it isn't. It's a logical operator, and the moment you invoke it, all the basic rules of logic, including the potentially annoying Modus Tollens, come along for the ride.
Do you feel that way about the other logical operators? (and, if, if not, etc) Some of them are useful in casual usage as well as strict construction.
I don't find the abbreviation "iff" useful in english. It's too easy to overlook that extra "f," or mistake it for a typo. If it's important to specify "and only if," it's worth 3 words to specify it properly and increase the chance it will be recognized and understood.
Do you feel that way about the other logical operators? (and, if, if not, etc) Some of them are useful in casual usage as well as strict construction.
Um. To some extent, yes. Depends on context. I'm most likely to be sent off into logic land by sentences of the form "If...then..." But just this morning I restrained myself from arguing with minnehahaB about whether 'and' subsumes 'or,' or whether, as I would be tempted to say wrt logic operators, that 'or' subsumes 'and' and the latter is in fact more precise than the former. See? There I go again.
But I agree with you that 'iff' isn't that handy for ordinary English usage; indeed, I'm tempted to say that even writing out "if and only if" isn't that handy, because it inevitably uncovers someone who doesn't understand double implication and then I'm all too tempted to get didactic about it.
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No, precisely right it isn't. It's a logical operator, and the moment you invoke it, all the basic rules of logic, including the potentially annoying Modus Tollens, come along for the ride.
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I don't find the abbreviation "iff" useful in english. It's too easy to overlook that extra "f," or mistake it for a typo. If it's important to specify "and only if," it's worth 3 words to specify it properly and increase the chance it will be recognized and understood.
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Um. To some extent, yes. Depends on context. I'm most likely to be sent off into logic land by sentences of the form "If...then..." But just this morning I restrained myself from arguing with
But I agree with you that 'iff' isn't that handy for ordinary English usage; indeed, I'm tempted to say that even writing out "if and only if" isn't that handy, because it inevitably uncovers someone who doesn't understand double implication and then I'm all too tempted to get didactic about it.