Single Idea 5405

[catalogued under 2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 1. Laws of Thought]

Full Idea

The law of contradiction is not a 'law of thought' ..because it is a belief about things, not only about thoughts.

Gist of Idea

The law of contradiction is not a 'law of thought', but a belief about things

Source

Bertrand Russell (Problems of Philosophy [1912], Ch. 9)

Book Reference

Russell,Bertrand: 'The Problems of Philosophy' [OUP 1995], p.50


A Reaction

The principle is a commitment about things, but it is inconceivable that any experience, no matter how weird, could ever contradict it. It would be better to assume that we had gone insane, than that a contradiction had occurred in the world.