per impossibile

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin per impossibile. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Adverb

per impossibile (not comparable)

1. (chiefly philosophy) As is impossible.
   • 1853 [c. 350 BCE], Aristotle, translated by Octavius Freire Owen, The Organon, or Logical Treatises of Aristotle‎^[1], volume 1, London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, translation of original in Ancient Greek, page 98:

     Moreover it is evident that all incomplete syllogisms are completed by means of the first figure, for all of them are concluded, either ostensively or per impossible, but in both ways the first figure is produced […]

   • 1979, Thomas Nagel, Mortal Questions, essay 8: “Equality”, page 107:

     If, per impossibile, large economic inequalities did not threaten political, legal, and social equality, they would be much less objectionable.