antinomy

 
Dictionary:

antinomy

  (ăn-tĭn'ə-mē) pronunciation
n., pl. -mies.
  1. Contradiction or opposition, especially between two laws or rules.
  2. A contradiction between principles or conclusions that seem equally necessary and reasonable; a paradox.

[Latin antinomia, from Greek antinomiā : anti-, anti- + nomos, law.]

antinomic an'ti·nom'ic (ăn'tĭ-nŏm'ĭk) adj.
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A paradox. In Kant's first Critique the antinomies of pure reason show that contradictory conclusions about the world as a whole can be drawn with equal propriety. Each antinomy has a thesis and a contradictory antithesis. The first antinomy has as thesis that the world has a beginning in time and is limited in space, and as antithesis that it has no beginning and no limits. The second proves both the infinite divisibility of space and the contrary; the third shows the necessity, but also the impossibility of human freedom, and the fourth proves the existence of a necessary being and the lack of existence of such a being. The solution to this conflict of reason with itself is that the principles of reasoning used are not ‘constitutive’, showing us how the world is, but ‘regulative’, or embodying injunctions about how we are to think of it. When regulative principles are taken outside their proper sphere of employment, as they are when theorizing about the world as a whole, contradiction results. Kant also presents an antinomy of practical reason in his Critique of Practical Reason and two antinomies of judgment (aesthetic judgment) in his Critique of Judgment.

 
This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

An expression in law and logic to indicate that two authorities, laws, or propositions are inconsistent with each other.

 
Wikipedia: Antinomy
Antinomia redirects here. For the brachiopod genus, see Antinomia (brachiopod).

Antinomy (Greek αντι-, against, plus νομος, law) literally means the mutual incompatibility, real or apparent, of two laws. It is a term used in logic and epistemology.

The term acquired a special significance in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, who used it to describe the equally rational but contradictory results of applying to the universe of pure thought the categories or criteria of reason proper to the universe of sensible perception or experience (phenomena). Reason cannot here play the role of establishing rational truths because it goes beyond possible experience and is applied to the sphere of that which transcends it.

For Kant there are four antinomies connected with

  1. the limitation of the universe in respect of space and time,
  2. the theory that the whole consists of indivisible atoms (whereas, in fact, none such exist),
  3. the problem of freedom in relation to universal causality,
  4. the existence of a necessary being

about each of which pure reason contradicts the empirical, as thesis and antithesis. This was part of Kant's critical program of determining limits to science and philosophical inquiry. Kant claimed to solve these contradictions by saying, that in no case is the contradiction real, however really it has been intended by the opposing partisans, or must appear to the mind without critical enlightenment. It is wrong, therefore, to impute to Kant, as is often done, the view that human reason is, on ultimate subjects, at war with itself, in the sense of being impelled by equally strong arguments towards alternatives contradictory of each other. The difficulty arises from a confusion between the spheres of phenomena and noumena. In fact no rational cosmology is possible.

It can also be argued that antinomies do not highlight limitations in the power of logical reasoning. This is because the conclusion that there is a limitation is (supposedly) derived from the antinomy by logical reasoning; therefore any limitation in the validity of logical reasoning imposes a limitation on the conclusion that there is a limitation on logical reasoning. (This is an argument by self-reference.) In short, in terms of the validity of logical reasoning as a whole, antinomies are self-isolating: they are like scattered discontinuities within the field of logic, incapable of casting doubt on anything else but themselves.

This carefree position is incompatible with the principle of explosion. In mathematical logic, antinomies are patently not self-isolating, and are usually seen as disasters for the formal system in which they arise (as Russell's paradox in Frege's work).

See also

References

  • John Watson, Selections from Kant (trans. Glasgow, 1897), pp. 155 foll.
  • W. Windelband, History of Philosophy (Eng. trans. 1893)
  • H. Sidgwick, Philos. of Kant, lectures x. and xi. (Lond., 1905)
  • F. Paulsen, I. Kant (Eng. trans. 1902), pp. 216 foll.
  • This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
  • This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.

External links



 
Translations: Translations for: Antinomy

Dansk (Danish)
n. - antinomi, paradoks

Nederlands (Dutch)
paradox, gezagsconflict

Français (French)
n. - antinomie

Deutsch (German)
n. - Antinomie, (Widerspruch zwischen zwei Authoritäten)

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αντινομία, αντίφαση, (φιλοσ.) αντινομία, παράδοξο

Italiano (Italian)
antinomia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - antinomia (f) (Filos.)

Русский (Russian)
антиномия, противоречие

Español (Spanish)
n. - antinomia, contradicción

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - antinomi (jur.)

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
矛盾, 二律相悖

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 矛盾, 二律相悖

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 모순

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 二律背反, 矛盾

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) تناقض : تناقض القوانين او المبادي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮סתירה בין אמונות או מסקנות הגיוניות, ניגוד בין שני חוקים או שתי רשויות, פרדוקס‬


 
 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Philosophy Dictionary. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Copyright © 1994, 1996, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Law Encyclopedia. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Antinomy" Read more
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