Mu (logic)

A term borrowed from Zen Buddhism that can be used as an avoiding answer on yes–no questions to avoid a possible false dilemma, e.g. when it is based on false premisses.

Semantically it is comparable to answering “neither is true”, as in:

Do you have a sister or a brother?
Neither.

The Japanese word “mu” (Kanji: 無, Hiragana: む) describes the absence of something. It may be translated as “nothing” or “without”. It is also a central concept in the philosophy of Zen where it is used to show the limitations of a dualist world-view.

As a logical concept, it was made popular in the Western world by Douglas Hofstadter’s book “Gödel, Escher, Bach”.

• False dilemma

• Mu (negative) on Wikipedia