Single Idea 9108

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

Full Idea

From an impossibility anything follows ('quod ex impossibili sequitur quodlibet').

Gist of Idea

From an impossibility anything follows

Source

William of Ockham (Summa totius logicae [1323], III.c.xxxvi)

Book Reference

Ockham,William of: 'Ockham's Philosophical Writings', ed/tr. Boehner,P [Hackett 1990], p.88


A Reaction

The hallmark of a true logician, I suspect, is that this opinion is really meaningful and important to them. They yearn to follow the logic wherever it leads. Common sense would seem to say that absolutely nothing follows from an impossibility.