Thursday, November 7, 2013

Negation, Contradiction, Miixed Signals

As has been previously discussed, the fundamental dialogical Negation is a refusal to respond to a request, with respect to which a refusal to consent to a request is derivative.  Similarly derivative is a refusal of a proposal to subscribe to some belief, i. e. a disagreement.  Now, a disagreement is literally a 'contradiction', and, that in a disagreement, either one of the parties may be wrong, or there is a third belief that entails both beliefs, corresponds to the Analytical Logic and Dialectical Logic, respectively, representations of it.  In contrast with both representations, there is what is commonly described as 'sending mixed signals', an attempted communication that includes both a request that some action be preformed, and a request that some action be not performed.  In other words, such a signal can be classified as 'self-contradictory'.  But, more fundamental than that 'logical' problem is that the signal cannot be responded to, i. e. it is a self-defeating communication, a condition that neither formalization adequately accommodates.

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