The Principle of Non Contradiction - Ep. 1.2: Aristotle's defence of the Principle

Second episode of a series of talks with the logician and philosopher Graham Priest (CUNY) about contradiction. In the book Gamma of his Metaphysics, Aristotle put forward what is perhaps the only detailed attempt to defend the Principle of Non Contradiction to be found in Western philosophy: the Elenchos. In this episode, Prof. Priest discusses and criticises this argument.

Very few philosophers dared to question the Principle of Non Contradiction, which says that contradictions cannot be true. The principle has gone so unquestioned that hardly any philosopher since Aristotle tried to defend it. Graham Priest belongs to the small number of philosophers who - in the good company of Heraclitus and Hegel - have dared to question it. He thinks that some contradictions are true. Here is why.

[geraldharrison]

What if I believe that it is a truth of reason that there are no true contradictions, but not a truth of reason that there cannot be? That is, what if I think the law of non-contradiction is contingently true? I think - though am not sure - that this position generates no contradictions and thus is coherent. But it does not involve denying the law of non-contradiction, just denying its necessity. Or maybe I'm confused....