Hegel´s philosophy is the thought of opposition and contradiction which is the most important thought, in his logic and ontology. But Hegel´s thought of opposition and contradiction is highly controversial. Because many critics think his logical thi...
Hegel´s philosophy is the thought of opposition and contradiction which is the most important thought, in his logic and ontology. But Hegel´s thought of opposition and contradiction is highly controversial. Because many critics think his logical thinking system is opposed to ´the law of contradiction´ approved as an ´absolute law of thinking´ in traditional formal logic. In fact, as formal logic insists, he explains in his logic that the contradiction, is not a subjective fallacy coming from the simple thought but ´the origin of life and activity´ existing in all the concretes.
This paper will deal with following questions:
1) Is the contradiction a subjective fallacy limited in thinking area or does it have objectivity and reality in all the areas of being and thinking?
2) How is the logical contradiction related to the dialectical contradiction?
According to Aristotle, the law of contradiction is defined as ˝it is impossible for the same thing both to belong and not to belong to something at the same time˝. This indicates that it´s impossible to affirm and deny the same object at the same time. And this is understood not only as logical thinking law but also as law of being. In Aristotle´s case, the law of contradiction is applied to the area of essential being. But thinking and being can not accept contradiction.
On the contrary, Kant define the law of contradiction as ˝a predicate belongs to nothing that it contradicts˝. This means that the law of contradiction is an absolute law of thinking. But, in fact, it has a different implication. Because Kant doesn´t presuppose the agreement or correspondence between concept and object. Therefore Kant doesn´t accept the law of contradiction as a ´law of being´. Contradiction is also dealt with subjective fallacy of thinking which happens in ´logical opposition´.
Modern logic explains the law of logic as the relation between propositions, criticizing the view of notion in traditional logic. Therefore the theme of formal logic turns out to be the conjunctive relation logic. Therefore the theme of formal logic turns out to be the conjunctive relation between concepts. As a result of that, modern logic does not treat the content of thought and empirical fact depend on the science excluding logic. Therefore formal logic elucidates the depend on the science excluding logic. Therefore formal logic elucidates the logical nature of synthetic proposition from it. Eventually in the position of formal logic, contradiction is not possible in a real world but it is just a subjective fallacy coming from the thought.
On the other hand, Hegel understands contradiction is not only existence in thing itself but also is the root of all movement and vitality. In the law of contradiction, ´concrete identity(subject-A) can not be abstract identity(predicate-A), and it can not be stayed in the only difference(not-A).´ For Hegel, contradiction and dialectic is the basic principle of understanding of the real feature of thing.
From this point of view, it seems that dialectical contradiction and logical contradiction have different nature and they are compatible in their areas. That is ti say, logical contradiction can be understood as s subjective fallacy of thought based on abstract principle which exists in real world.
In the perspective subjective principle which exists in real world.
In the perspective subject, the law of contradiction in formal logic sees world in the viewpoint of relative rest and fixation, whereas dialectical contradiction sees world on the viewpoint of changing, motion, and development.
Consequently when we explore this on the epistemological point of view, the former sees object on the same viewpoint and the latter sees object on the other viewpoint, therefore they are reasonably compatible.