Single Idea 14787

[catalogued under 2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 3. Non-Contradiction]

Full Idea

It is an anacoluthon to say that a proposition is impossible because it is self-contradictory. It rather is thought so to appear self-contradictory because the ideal induction has shown it to be impossible.

Clarification

An 'anacoluthon' changes subject in mid-sentence

Gist of Idea

Self-contradiction doesn't reveal impossibility; it is inductive impossibility which reveals self-contradiction

Source

Charles Sanders Peirce (The Nature of Mathematics [1898], III)

Book Reference

Peirce,Charles Sanders: 'Philosophical Writings of Peirce', ed/tr. Buchler,Justus [Dover 1940], p.147