John Cook writes about Jenga mathematics, his name for the sort of mathematics which is done by weakening the hypotheses of a theorem as much as possible while the theorem still remains true.
As he points out, "Taken to extremes, Jenga mathematics turns theorems inside-out and proofs become hypotheses". This is an interesting way to look at it, and perhaps explains why it is difficult to read such theorems.
Of course, the underpinnings of this style are laid bare in Proofs & Refutations, as slowly the original proof becomes the hypotheses of the revised proof.
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