Performative contradiction explained

A performative contradiction (German: performativer Widerspruch) arises when the making of an utterance rests on necessary presuppositions that contradict the proposition asserted in the utterance.^[1]

The term was coined by Jürgen Habermas and Karl-Otto Apel, who attribute the first elaboration of the concept to Jaakko Hintikka, in his analysis of Descartes' cogito ergo sum argument.^{[1] [2]} Hintikka concluding that cogito ergo sum relies on performance rather than logical inference.^[3]

Habermas claims that post-modernism's epistemological relativism suffers from a performative contradiction. Hans-Hermann Hoppe claims in his theory of discourse ethics that arguing against self-ownership results in a performative contradiction.^[4]

See also

• Liar paradox
• Performative utterance
• Self-refuting idea

Further reading

• Book: Habermas, Jürgen . Discourse Ethics: Notes on a Program of Philosophical Justification . Habermas . Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action . registration . trans. C. Lenhardt and S.W. Nicholsen . Cambridge, Massachusetts . MIT Press . 1990 .
• Book: Hoppe, Hans-Hermann . Hans-Hermann Hoppe

. Hans-Hermann Hoppe . On the Ultimate Justification of the Ethics of Private Property . .

Notes and References

1. Book: Haberman, Jürgen. 1990 . Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action . Cambridge. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 80. 978-0-7456-11044.
2. The problem of philosophical fundamental-grounding in light of a transcendental pragmatic of language. Karl-Otto. Apel. Man and World . 8 . 3 . 1975 . 239–275 . 10.1007/BF01255646. 144951196 .
3. Cogito, Ergo Sum: Inference or Performance? . Jaakko . Hintikka . The Philosophical Review . 71 . 1 . 1962 . 3–32 . 10.2307/2183678 . 2183678 .
4. Hoppe . Hans-Hermann . The Ultimate Justification of Private Property . Liberty . September 1988 . 1. 20 .