Refraction (Bent Thinking) #42

Contradictory Assumptions: Having the first two premises of an argument stating contradictory assertions . Refutation: By definition, contradictory claims cannot be true at the same time. One has to be wrong. Example –  Abby: Adam, I believe that each individual citizen has the inalienable right to choose and live out his/her moral code, but I also believe that the state has a compelling interest (and therefore inalienable right) to preserve order through exacting punishments on individual citizens for violating social moral standards. Side Note: If someone said 1) All zoinks are zithered and 2) No zoinks are zithered , there can be no conclusion drawn from these claims. In real life, however, most contradictory claims (like the example above) are written in language that makes it hard to see the contradiction clearly