Contradictions: Logic, History, Actuality

232 Pages·2014·1 MB·English

by  Elena Ficara

ElenaFicara
Contradictions
Berlin Studies
in Knowledge Research
|
Edited by
Günter Abel and James Conant
Volume 6
Elena Ficara
Contradictions
|
Logic, History, Actuality
SeriesEditors
Prof.Dr.GünterAbel
TechnischeUniversitätBerlin
InstitutfürPhilosophie
Straßedes17.Juni135
10623Berlin
Germany
e-mail:[email protected]
Prof.Dr.JamesConant
TheUniversityofChicago
Dept.ofPhilosophy
1115E.58thStreet
ChicagoIL60637
USA
e-mail:[email protected]
ISBN978-3-11-033574-3
e-ISBN978-3-11-034082-2
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Acknowledgements
ThisbookgoesbacktoaconferencewiththesametitlethattookplaceatTech-
nicalUniversityBerlininthesummerof2011andwasgenerously supportedby
theDeutscheForschungsgemeinschaftandtheIZW.Forhelpbefore,duringand
aftertheconference,IamparticularlythankfultoGünterAbel,FrancaD’Agostini,
DagfinnFøllesdal,HansPoser,ClaudioRoller,DorisSchöpsandElisabethSimon.
Formakingthepublicationofthisvolumepossible,Iamespeciallygratefultothe
IZW,inparticulartoGünterAbel,forhisfriendlinessandtheunconditionedsup-
portoftheprojectineveryphaseofitsdevelopment.IamalsogratefultoHadi
Faizi, who helped me revising the English texts, and to Peter Remmers for his
editorialadvice.Finally,mythanksgotothepublishinghouseDeGruyter,par-
ticularly to Gertrud Grünkornand Konrad Vorderobermeier for help during the
productionofthisvolume.

Contents
ElenaFicara
Introduction|1
PartI: Logic
GrahamPriest
ContradictoryConcepts|13
JCBeall
RapunzelShavesPinocchio’sBeard|27
FrancaD’Agostini
ParadoxesandtheRealityofContradictions|31
AchilleC.Varzi
Logic,OntologicalNeutrality,andtheLawofNon-Contradiction|53
FrancescoBerto
RepresentingtheContradictory|81
PartII: History
EnricoBerti
ObjectionstoAristotle’sDefenceofthePrincipleofNon-Contradiction|97
AngelicaNuzzo
TheJusticeofContradiction.LogicalAdvancementand
HistoricalTransformations|109
LucaIlletterati
LimitandContradictioninHegel|127
KlausVieweg
ZurLogikmoralischerUrteile|153
viii | Contents
PartIII: Actuality
GianniVattimo
InsuperableContradictions|173
FedericoVercellone
ADisenchantedReenchantment.HermeneuticsandMorphology|181
WolfgangWelsch
WiewiraufKonsistenzaussind–undwarum|193
ListofContributors|209
IndexofNames|215
SubjectIndex|219
ElenaFicara
Introduction
Thenotionofcontradictionisofthegreatestimportanceinseveralfields.Itisa
centraltopicinthehistoryofancientphilosophy:theverybeginningofphilos-
ophyinhistoryseemstobecloselyconnectedtothediscoveryofcontradictions
inGreeklanguage.Itisofcrucialimportanceinmetaphysics:Aristotle’sinquiry
intothenatureofbeingisalso,ifnotmainly,inspiredbytheneedofavoiding(and
diagnosing)theoccurrenceofcontradictions.Itisevidently,inmanysenses,one
ofthebasicconcernsoflogic.Theproblemofcontradictionisalsotheproblem
ofdisagreement:isitpossiblethatcontradictorythesesarebothtrue?Undernor-
malcircumstances,oneofthetwothesesisfalse,andthismeansthatoneofthe
disagreeingpartiesiswrong.Andyet,atleastsometimespeopledisagreewith-
outanyfault(orsoitseems),andincompatiblepositionsseembothright.Inthis
sense,thethemeofcontradictionisalsothecoreofanypoliticalreflectionabout
democraticconfrontation,relativismandtheroleoftheconceptoftruthinpolit-
icalpractice.Notonlythat,acompletetheoryabouttheproblematicandheuris-
ticrelevanceofcontradictionsinanyfieldwastypicallygivenbytheauthorsof
GermanIdealism,andspecificallybythetraditionofHegelianism,sotheissueis
alsocrucialforthehistoryofphilosophyafterKant,andforanyinquiryintoclas-
sicalGermanphilosophy.Finally,theproblemoftheexistence,uses,andnature
ofcontradictionsisatthecoreofmanycontemporarydiscussionsinphilosophy:
discussionsaboutparadoxes,andtheplausibilityofparaconsistentlogics,¹but
alsoaboutthe statusofhumansubjects,aslocated insocialandpoliticalcon-
texts,andaboutthedestinyofMarxism.²
Allthisstated,atypicalproblemaffectscontemporarytheoriesonthistopic.
Themainconcernisthattheauthorsworkingonitcomefromradicallydifferent
philosophicaltraditionsandcontexts,andtheycanonlyveryrarelycommunicate
witheachother,andsharetheirresults.
Thefirstaimofthebookisthustostimulateagenuinedialoguebetweendif-
ferentapproaches,sothattheunderstandingoftheproblemofcontradictionsbe-
comesascompleteaspossible.Notonlythat,thesametopicofcontradictions,as
suggestedabove,seemstobelocatedattheintersectionofdifferentfields,tradi-
1 SeethecontemporarydiscussionsaboutGrahamPriest’sdialetheism,whicharedocumented
inmanyleadingphilosophicaljournals,aswellasinPriest/Beall/Armour-Garb(2004).
2 SeeJudithButler’sandSlavoyŽižek’sreconsiderationofHegelianisminButler(1987)andŽižek
(2012).
2 | ElenaFicara
tionsandschools,soitisparticularlyapttoovercomethedividesbetweenphilo-
sophicalapproaches,constitutingacommongroundofphilosophicalresearch.
Thepaperscollectedinthisvolumepresentsomeofthemostrecentresults
oftheworkaboutcontradictionsinphilosophicallogic,examinethehistoryof
contradictionincrucialphasesofphilosophicalthought(inancientphilosophy
andinGermanphilosophyafterKant),considertherelevanceofcontradictions
forpoliticalandphilosophicalcurrenttimes.Despitethedifferencesbetweenap-
proachesandstiles,abasicquestionemerges, anditismoreorlessopenlyad-
dressedinallthepapers.Itisthequestionoftheirreducibility,reality,andpro-
ductiveforceof(some)contradictions.³
The book has three parts. In the first part, Logic and Metaphysics, leading
experts ofphilosophicallogic and metaphysicsfocuson the problem – nowat
thecentreoflivingdebatesaboutnon-classicallogic,⁴andinparticularaboutdi-
aletheism⁵–oftherealityofcontradictions,andonthelinkbetweenlogicand
metaphysics. The second part, History, entails papers by specialists of ancient
philosophy and post-Kantian philosophy, the two periods in history where the
reflectiononcontradictionsreachedprobablyitsgreatestdevelopment.Thepa-
persanalysebothAristotle’sdefenceofthelawofnon-contradiction,dealingwith
someproblemsconnectedwithit,andHegel’sargumentsfortherealityandef-
fectivenessofcontradictions,andtheirrelevanceforpracticalandpoliticalphi-
losophy.Thelastpart,Actuality,isdevotedtotheroleandusesofcontradictions
forculturalandpoliticaloccurrences.Itcollectspapersbyeminentcontemporary
philosophersworkinginthemainlyEuropeantradition,onthepolitical,aesthetic
andbiologicalimplicationsofcontradictions.
GrahamPriest (ContradictoryConcepts)examinesaquestionattheverycoreof
contemporarydiscussionswithindialetheism.Ifdialetheismistheviewthatthere
are(some)truecontradictions,thentheproblemistoassessif“thecontradictions
3 Evidently,themeaningoftheterm“contradiction”,aswellasthatoftheexpression“truecon-
tradiction”ishereatstake.ForafirstoverviewseeGrim(2004),49–72,aswellasthepapers
collectedinthisvolume(PartOne:Logic).
4 SeePriest/Beall/Armour-Garb(2004).
5 Theterms‘dialetheia/dialetheism’werecoinedbyGrahamPriestandRichardRoutleyin1981
(seePriest/Routley/Norman(1989),xx)andresultfromtheunionofthetwoGreekwords‘di-’
(two/double)and‘aletheia’(truth).Adialetheiaisatruecontradiction(adoubletruth),i.e.atrue
propositionwhosenegationisalsotrue,anddialetheismistheviewaccordingtowhichthereare
somedialetheias(true-and-falsepropositions)andthisdoesnotimplyanytrivialisationoflogic.
Foraclearoverview,seePriest/Berto(2013).