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"An abhorrence of contradiction has been high orthodoxy in the West for more than 2,000 years." Not necessarily so, just a particular branch of western thinkin

"An abhorrence of contradiction has been high orthodoxy in the West for more than 2,000 years." Not necessarily so, just a particular branch of western thinking and tradition now widely called the analytic tradition. GWF Hegel and Karl Marx had philosophies that deeply and profoundly embraced contradictions. Neither tried to abolish them, but instead to embrace them. To quote Marx in "Capital Volume 1": "This is, in general, the way in which real contradictions are resolved. For instance, it is a contradiction to depict one body as constantly falling towards another and at the same time flying away from it. The ellipse is a form of motion within which this contradiction is both realized and resolved" In other words, contradictions are not resolved but given room to move within forms. This was a move deeply influenced by Hegel, whose Logic embraced contradictions and sought to sublate them in higher forms.

vidarh 12y ago
In Marx case - at least in your example - he is not using "contradiction" in a formal logic sense. He is using it in the sense of the contradicting forces of dialectical contradictions. Marx specifically used different terms when referring to contradictions of formal logic.
- grifpete 12y ago
  Exactly. (just posted same point.) Even those 'dialectical contradictions' are perhaps better described as opposing forces that set in train a dialectical resolution.
grifpete 12y ago
For all the talk of Marx as having a philosophy that embraced contradictions I am a little sceptical of the way that this is frequently represented. Hegel certainly did have a philosophy that embraced contradiction and Marx certainly drew from his system as a mode of expression but his work was rooted IN the world and the kinds of contradictions he pointed out where not logical contradictions but rather opposing forces that demanded resolution.

vidarh 12y ago

In Marx case - at least in your example - he is not using "contradiction" in a formal logic sense. He is using it in the sense of the contradicting forces of dialectical contradictions. Marx specifically used different terms when referring to contradictions of formal logic.

grifpete 12y ago
Exactly. (just posted same point.) Even those 'dialectical contradictions' are perhaps better described as opposing forces that set in train a dialectical resolution.

grifpete 12y ago

For all the talk of Marx as having a philosophy that embraced contradictions I am a little sceptical of the way that this is frequently represented. Hegel certainly did have a philosophy that embraced contradiction and Marx certainly drew from his system as a mode of expression but his work was rooted IN the world and the kinds of contradictions he pointed out where not logical contradictions but rather opposing forces that demanded resolution.