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Single Idea 10121

[filed under theme 5. Theory of Logic / D. Assumptions for Logic / 3. Contradiction ]

Full Idea

Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.

Gist of Idea

Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor lack of contradiction a sign of truth

Source

Blaise Pascal (works [1660]), quoted by A.George / D.J.Velleman - Philosophies of Mathematics Ch.6

Book Ref

George,A/Velleman D.J.: 'Philosophies of Mathematics' [Blackwell 2002], p.164

A Reaction

[Quoted in Auden and Kronenberger's Book of Aphorisms] Presumably we would now say that contradiction is a purely formal, syntactic notion, and not a semantic one. If you hit a contradiction, something has certainly gone wrong.

The 15 ideas from Blaise Pascal

6677 Imagination creates beauty, justice and happiness, which is the supreme good [Pascal]
6678 We live for the past or future, and so are never happy in the present [Pascal]
6679 It is not good to be too free [Pascal]
6680 It is a funny sort of justice whose limits are marked by a river [Pascal]
6681 We only want to know things so that we can talk about them [Pascal]
6682 Majority opinion is visible and authoritative, although not very clever [Pascal]
22011 The first principles of truth are not rational, but are known by the heart [Pascal]
6676 Painting makes us admire things of which we do not admire the originals [Pascal]
7455 Pascal knows you can't force belief, but you can make it much more probable [Pascal, by Hacking]
7457 Pascal is right, but relies on the unsupported claim of a half as the chance of God's existence [Hacking on Pascal]
7456 The libertine would lose a life of enjoyable sin if he chose the cloisters [Hacking on Pascal]
6684 If you win the wager on God's existence you win everything, if you lose you lose nothing [Pascal]
6675 The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing [Pascal]
20732 If man considers himself as lost and imprisoned in the universe, he will be terrified [Pascal]
10121 Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor lack of contradiction a sign of truth [Pascal]