Abstract
Abstract Putative examples of true contradictions in the social world have been given by dialetheists such as Graham Priest, Richard Routley, and Val Plumwood. However, we feel that it has not been decisively argued that these examples are in fact true contradictions rather than merely apparent. In this paper we adopt a new strategy to show that there are some true contradictions in the social world, and hence that dialetheism is correct. The strategy involves showing that a group of sincere dialetheists can, given an appropriately formed institution, bootstrap contradictions into existence. We discuss objections and consider the implications of this finding for debates over logic.
Highlights
Perhaps the most well-known arguments for dialetheism – the view that there are some true contradictions – make use of semantic paradoxes such as the liar (“this sentence is false”) and its variants (see for example Beall (2009), Priest (2006))
Our argument does rest on there being some claims that are true in virtue of the social world being a certain way. To us it seems that resisting our conclusion – that there are true contradictions within social reality – by claiming that there are no truths within the social world whatsoever, and so no social facts, looks a lot like the “nuclear” option: that is, we suggest that it is a high price to pay and is perhaps ad hoc
What kind of evidence can we provide to show that contradictions do not entail everything, for example? Exactly the kind we have presented in the previous two sections – that we have made a contradiction true by forming our club, coupled with the trivial observation that some claims are false within both the social and non-social worlds: it is still not legal to drive on the right in the UK, and it’s still false that gold has atomic number 489
Summary
Perhaps the most well-known arguments for dialetheism – the view that there are some true contradictions – make use of semantic paradoxes such as the liar (“this sentence is false”) and its variants (see for example Beall (2009), Priest (2006)). Putative examples of true contradictions in the social world have been given by dialetheists such as Richard Routley and Val Plumwood (1989) and Graham Priest (2006). Such examples usually involve moral dilemmas and legal conflicts derived from contradictory norms, including the pacifist’s dilemma and potential conflicts over voting and property rights.. Such examples usually involve moral dilemmas and legal conflicts derived from contradictory norms, including the pacifist’s dilemma and potential conflicts over voting and property rights. we feel that it has not been decisively argued that these examples are true contradictions rather than merely apparent. In this paper we adopt a new strategy to show that there are some true contradictions in the social world, and that dialetheism is true
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