Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Dialogue Between Two Hegelians

I met Andrew James Puzzo on Facebook as the friend of a friend. He goes to the U of Toronto and is a very interesting guy. I wanted to share something he posted that will appeal to those folks who (a) are in college now and suffering from one-too-many Hum/Phil classes or (b) had a liberal arts education:

A: Are you still a follower of Hegel?

B: Of course! I believe everything he wrote. Since he denied the law of noncontradiction, I deny this too. On my view, P is entirely compatible with not-P.

A: I'm a fan of Hegel myself. But he didn't deny the law of noncontradiction! You read the wrong commentators!

B: You're wrong, he did deny this! Let me get my copy of The Science of Logic.

A: Don't get so upset! You said that he did deny the law, and I said that he didn't. Aren't these compatible on your view? After all, you think that P is compatible with not-P.

B: Yes, I guess they're compatible.

A: No they aren't!

B: Yes they are!

A: Don't get so upset! You said that they are compatible, and I said that they aren't. Aren't these two compatible on your view? Recall that you think that P is compatible with not-P.

B: Yes, I guess they're compatible. I'm getting confused.

A: And you're also not getting confused, right?

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1 comment:

Guy said...

I reminded of the Python argument sketch: http://www.mindspring.com/~mfpatton/sketch.htm

No, you're not!