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The Heady Sport of Violating the Principle of Non-Contradiction

Tradition and Sanity

“Who will stop me?” Ever since Hegel, the death-defying sport of openly violating the principle of non-contradiction—namely, that a thing cannot both be and not be at the same time and in the same respect—has grown in popularity. Hegel, for his part, postulated a historic-logico-metaphysical process by which the clash between thesis and antithesis would inevitably yield a higher synthesis. Nowadays, however, people seem quite content to grab the thesis and the antithesis and sit down cozily with both of them, making no attempt at synthesis; indeed, one wonders if they even notice the conflict. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.traditionsanity.com/subscribe