Performative contradiction

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]

  1. ^ a b Haberman, Jürgen (1990). Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-7456-11044.
  2. ^ Apel, Karl-Otto (1975). "The problem of philosophical fundamental-grounding in light of a transcendental pragmatic of language". Man and World. 8 (3): 239–275. doi:10.1007/BF01255646. S2CID 144951196.
  3. ^ Hintikka, Jaakko (1962). "Cogito, Ergo Sum: Inference or Performance?". The Philosophical Review. 71 (1): 3–32. doi:10.2307/2183678. JSTOR 2183678.
  4. ^ Hoppe, Hans-Hermann (September 1988). "The Ultimate Justification of Private Property" (PDF). Liberty. 1: 20.