Contradictions
are an everyday struggle for philosophers and everyday people. A lot of times,
our ideas contradict with other idea resulting in a “it depends on the
situation.” Many people use this to escape their obvious contradictions. We see
contradictions all the time in politics. All throughout this previous election,
we have seen people pointing out contradictions from both political parties.
The point here being that it is extremely difficult to avoid contradictions,
especially if you don’t put a lot of thought into your beliefs. This is one of
the key things that philosophers must make sure to avoid, otherwise their
entire argument might just be proven invalid.
Contradictions come in many shapes, forms,
and sizes. Sometimes people contradict what they say a few minutes earlier.
Perhaps you say that you hate the color purple, yet go buy a purple shirt. That
itself is a contradiction, but it is only a small one. Other times
contradictions can get people into a lot of trouble. Suppose that a murder
suspect is truly innocent, and when ask their whereabouts during the time of
the murder, they tell investigators one thing, then a few minutes later. These
kinds of contradictions can really raise suspicions and might even lead to a
wrong prosecution. Now, this may seem like a farfetched situation, but it just
goes to show how bad the wide range of contradictions.
When composing an argument and/or
when developing your own philosophy, contradictions are of the utmost
importance to avoid. If you don’t avoid them, your argument is often disposed
of and not taken into consideration. It can make people believe that you have
no idea what you are talking about, which is can be extremely frustrating, but
you typically, you can’t defend yourself.
Contradictions aren’t necessarily
always bad, in fact many philosophers have used them to ask deep and meaningful
questions. Most of the time, these contradictions are called paradoxes. Although
there are many famous philosophical paradoxes (saving most of them for
installment two), there are many paradoxes outside of the philosophical world.
Examples of these are: “Nobody goes to that restaurant because it is too
crowded”, “You shouldn’t go in the water until you know how to swim”, and my
favorite paradox “If you restored a ship by replacing each of its wooden parts,
would it remain the same ship?”
Bertrand Russell’s barber paradox is
one of the most famous philosophical paradoxes. This is how it goes: “In a
village, the barber shaves everyone who does not shave himself/herself, but no
one else.
Who shaves
the barber?” If the barber shaves himself, then he can no longer be the barber.
However, if the barber doesn’t shave himself, then he fits in with the people
that do not shave themselves and must be shaved by the barber, except he is the
barber. Often times paradoxes such as these are used to establish a larger,
philosophical picture. The barber paradox was an example of a bigger paradox
called Russell's Paradox. Russell used Russell’s paradox to disprove the set
theory proposed by Georg Cantor.
As we can see, contradictions are
found everywhere. Philosophers can use contradictions to easily prove/disprove
theories that they don’t find to be true. These are some of the only times that
contradictions are used on purpose. The majority of the time contradictions are
on accident and can lead to bigger issues such as an invalid argument or legal
troubles. In my next installment, I will talk more about philosophical contradictions
that aren’t always mean to be said and more about the ones that are used to disprove other philosopher's theories.
#10
ReplyDeleteTrevor Hutchens
Very well spoken. I must agree, contradictions can be found anywhere and can definitely get you into trouble. I have contradicted myself many times; from when I was young up until now. I have learned to notice that this is not uncommon; many people contradict themselves constantly. It can be in personal views, bias, or beliefs. The main point is not to beat yourself up over contradicting yourself, but rather to learn from it and never do it again.
#10
ReplyDeleteSteven Kleinman
I also agree. I think that contradicting yourself can often look very bad. Contradiction is especially bad in a professional role like politics. If your running for a position in the government, you would want to carry out the things you told your voters. If you don't then your probably not going to be reelected. In some cases though, I believe contradictions can symbolize education. We all have had ideas or views on thing we thought to be correct and have changed our position on the topic. You can often see this when it comes to presidency. Candidates may preach something and not follow that later. Although this contradiction is not good for their reelection, it sometimes may symbolize the gaining of knowledge, like their original plans can't work like the had imagined.
"it is extremely difficult to avoid contradictions, especially if you don’t put a lot of thought into your beliefs." - actually, just a little thought is usually enough to avert flat-out contradiction.
ReplyDelete“Nobody goes to that restaurant because it is too crowded”- that's a Yogi Berra-ism. Is it a contradiction or just an ill-formed thought? He meant: nobody who wishes to avoid a crowd goes there.
"Philosophers can use contradictions to easily prove/disprove theories that they don’t find to be true." Not really. From a contradiction, anything follows... which really means that it proves nothing.