Contradiction

Broadly speaking, a contradiction is an incompatibility between two or more statements, ideas, or actions. One must, it seems, reject at least one of the ideas outright.

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In logic, contradiction is defined much more specifically, usually as the simultaneous assertion of a statement and its negation ("denial" can be used instead of "negation"). This, of course, assumes that "negation" has a non-problematic definition. This idea is based on Aristotle's law of non-contradiction which states that "One cannot say of something that it is and that it is not in the same respect and at the same time."

Related Topics:
Logic - Negation - Aristotle's - Law of non-contradiction

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In colloquial speech and in dialectical methodology, the word "contradiction" has a completely different meaning than in formal logic.

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