Literary notes about Contradictory (AI summary)
Literary authors often deploy "contradictory" to expose the tensions and dualities within ideas or characterizations. In some works, the term is used to argue that discrepancies are only apparent when propositions are taken at face value, as seen in critiques of democracy and logic [1][2]. At times, it underscores the mutual annihilation of opposing notions, suggesting that some universal claims collapse under their conflicting attributes [3]. Authors have also applied "contradictory" to illustrate the puzzling dynamics in human behavior, where even conflicting commands or opinions may reveal hidden patterns of thought [4][5]. Overall, its usage enriches texts by inviting readers to reconcile opposing elements and probe the intricacies of perception and reason.
- A more attentive examination will show that there is nothing contradictory in the proposition.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - In former cases, the result was that both contradictory dialectical statements were declared to be false.
— from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant - The very words unlimited Universe, and as well the notions they express, are contradictory, and annihilate each other.
— from Know the Truth: A Critique on the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation by Jesse Henry Jones - The information one receives in the Amphletts is exceedingly unsatisfactory, and my several informants gave contradictory accounts on this point.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific by Bronislaw Malinowski - Sónya, owing to the count’s contradictory orders, lost her head and did not know what to do.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy
