Paradox
Paradoxes irritate thinking but at the same time function as new beginnings of thinking. They arise when a binary distinction whose values negate each other is referred back to itself with its negative value (e.g. when one says ‘I am lying’ while saying the truth that he or she is lying). If you cannot decide between the two contradicting alternatives, they make your thinking block. Such paradoxical self-referentialities have been dreaded by science and philosophy throughout history and into modernity, and they have made every effort to resolve these paradoxes. Everyday orientation, on the other hand, is not troubled by paradoxes; it deals with them quite naturally. As Niklas Luhmann discovered, one cannot go behind paradoxes that block thinking, which is exactly why one can utilize them as new beginnings of thinking. They allow thinking to operate with both alternatives and thus help orientation to explore new leeways of thinking. Plenty of paradoxes – such as the unjustified justification, the temporary atemporality, the stocks of a stock exchange sold at this stock exchange, or dead persons who are no longer persons – are effective in human orientation (chap. 1.2).
2-3, 8-9, 11, 13, 28, 33, 39-40, 44, 46, 53, 55-56, 59-60, 80, 84, 94-96, 100-101, 134, 145, 153, 157, 165, 169-175, 178-179, 199, 201, 203, 223, 231-233, 261, 275-281
Glossary
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2019
- Dec 12, 2019 Attention
- Dec 11, 2019 Calmness
- Dec 10, 2019 Certainty/Uncertainty
- Dec 9, 2019 Courage
- Dec 8, 2019 Death
- Dec 7, 2019 Digitization
- Dec 6, 2019 Double Contingency of Communication
- Dec 5, 2019 Ethical Orientation
- Dec 4, 2019 Fluctuance
- Dec 3, 2019 Foothold
- Dec 2, 2019 Horizon
- Dec 1, 2019 Identity
- Nov 30, 2019 Irritation
- Nov 29, 2019 Leeway
- Nov 28, 2019 Metaphysics
- Nov 27, 2019 Moral Orientation
- Nov 26, 2019 Orientation
- Nov 25, 2019 Orientation Worlds
- Nov 24, 2019 Paradox
- Nov 23, 2019 Perspective
- Nov 22, 2019 Plausibility
- Nov 21, 2019 Routine
- Nov 20, 2019 Sign
- Nov 19, 2019 Situation
- Nov 18, 2019 Standardization
- Nov 17, 2019 Standpoint
- Nov 16, 2019 Time
- Nov 15, 2019 Unsettlement
- Nov 14, 2019 View