[lbo-talk] Re Contradiction

Tahir Wood twood at uwc.ac.za
Mon Dec 3 01:40:49 PST 2007



>>> <lbo-talk-request at lbo-talk.org> 12/02/07 10:54 PM >>>

So, to put it as simply as possible, contradiction is a necessary component not of physical reality (in which nothing is abstract or fixed) but of the human understanding *insofar as it fully and truthfully corresponds to objective reality.* Shane Mage

The "human understanding" is part of physical reality, unless one believes in a realm of pure ideas that do not require any physical substrate. Just as physical objects dispute domains of space-time, so do tendencies in the mental space-time. This is the reason why cognitive dissonance is unpleasant. It's not a state of rest. Just as the antelope is not in a state of rest when the lion enters its sensory field. As I said earlier, the question is not whether conflicts in nature somehow 'reflect' conflicts in mental space. It is rather that mind is made up of the same substance as any other part of nature (neurons, activity states, etc.). Therefore what we have called contradiction in relation to the mind, is something that is actually ontologically general, and can be modelled by means of a topology made up of various configuations of interaction. Mind is just not something outside of nature.

As for physical reality not being "fixed" (I presume you include the animal psyche but not the human psyche here), try telling the antelope that she should get over her phobia of lions, that there is no such thing as a contradiction in nature. And tell the lion to lie down with the lamb.

Tahir

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