The Law of Noncontradiction

Week 2 Lecture

The Law of Non contradiction

The law of noncontradiction says that something cannot be true and false at the same time, in the same way, at the same place.  Example. I cannot say it is 10:00 am in Los Angeles California on July 4th, 2013 and at the same exact time say it is 11:00 am in Los Angeles California on July 4th, 2013.  I am contradicting myself.  This may seem like an obvious law but think about a world where nobody recognized a contradictory statement.

Imagine driving down an unfamiliar highway only to see the following sign:

The law of noncontradiction is fundamental to countless decisions and distinction we make on a daily basis. Without the ability to understand contradiction our ability to think, communicate, and act under many circumstance would be impossible.  Imagine asking for cold water and I gave you hot water and told you it was cold. That would be a contradiction.  How could you communicate, if no one could understand or believe you because you continuously contradicted yourself?

What if I told you that everyone in this class was to receive an A at the end of this class no matter what work you did or failed to do in this online course, and then at the end of the class I gave everyone an F?  Would you be ok with my violation of the law of noncontradiction?  Why not? There is a difference (distinction) between an A and an F; and A is not an F and an F is not an A.  It is easy to see that the law of non contradiction is linked to the law of identity.

There are some state governments that would like to remove gender “labels” because some transgendered individuals may be offended at the terms male and female.  Some gender labels, such as, Mother and Father are being removed from some state government forms because of fear of offending transgender individuals.  It is commendable to desire not to offend anyone but to refuse to acknowledge important distinctions between male and female genders strikes at the very heart of critical thinking.  To refuse to acknowledge fundamental distinctions demands we deny reality itself.  The issues are not only ethical struggles within our culture but the struggle for rationality itself.

There is the danger of making the false distinction that we offend others with truth or we must put aside critical thinking in order to not offend.  True tolerance requires that we maintain our ability to make distinctions.  How should we know we must be tolerant if there ultimately is no difference between anything and anyone?  If everything is the same tolerance is an unnecessary virtue.  Truth requires tolerance because we must make important distinction that correspond to reality.

What about loans and grants?  Many of you are receiving government grants, such as, pell or acg to attend Carl Albert State College; grants you do not have to repay and loans you do have to repay.  What if  you took a $5000 loan that you were told was a government grant?  Do you think the federal government would decide to ignore the difference between your pell and loans?  A grant is not a loan and a loan is not a grant (the law of identity).  You cannot say you only took out a $5000 loan and then say you took out a $5000 grant because this would be a contradiction.  The two are not the same.

According to Paula Gottlieb Aristotle held that the law of noncontradiction is a first principle and the firmest principle (2009).  Gottlieb goes on to state: Aristotle says that it is a principle which “is necessary for anyone to have who knows any of the things that are”.  Obviously we do not need Aristotle to tell us that something is wrong when we contradict ourselves or when others make contradicting statements to us, but it is important to see the disturbing trend in our culture towards rejecting both the law of identity and the law of noncontradiction.

The importance of logic and reason to ethical theory is imperative to our ability to build a sound ethical system in which to live our lives.  There is no need to be a logician to be ethical, but everyone should understand the fundamental relationship between the laws of logic and virtue. Reason (logic) and ethics are human undertakings. 

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