antinomy
Americannoun
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antinomies
plural
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opposition between one law, principle, rule, etc., and another.
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Philosophy. a contradiction between two statements, both apparently obtained by correct reasoning.
noun
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opposition of one law, principle, or rule to another; contradiction within a law
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philosophy contradiction existing between two apparently indubitable propositions; paradox
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of antinomy
1585–95; < Latin antinomia < Greek antinomía a contradiction between laws. See anti-, -nomy
Explanation
If two contradictory statements both seem reasonable and true, you can call this conundrum an antinomy. The noun comes from the Latin and Greek word antinomia, which meant a contradiction in the law. The philosopher Immanuel Kant famously suggested four antinomies. One of them stated that the world had a definite beginning and will have a definite end. On the other hand, Kant added, the world is infinite in terms of time and space. Both statements at first blush appear reasonable, but since it's impossible that the world could be both finite and infinite, the two ideas together form an antinomy.
Vocabulary lists containing antinomy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Philosophers similarly examined the antinomy of the individual and the group, shaped by the periods of history and the dialectic.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 31, 2021
“The essay is structurally flawed by a false antinomy, an either/or scenario doomed to generate opinions rather than dialogue. Anyway, who wants to have an argument that only has two sides?”
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 28, 2019
When Heidl is willing to talk to Kehlmann, he talks in a qualmless gala of paranoia and parentheses, of non sequitur and evasion, of conspiracy and antinomy, of sundered sermons.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 4, 2018
As it were by his own antinomy, or counterstatute.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Noah Webster
I confess it looks like it; I have had to face the antinomy.
From The New Theology by R. J. (Reginald John) Campbell
Many problems facing the church in Asian countries today stem as much from changing social and cultural conditions as they do from traditional antinomies.
From Time Magazine Archive
TIN SWE Rangoon, Burma Sir: Although I am not a Buddhist, I interpreted your article on the subject as an unregenerate evaluation of the antinomies of a great religion.
From Time Magazine Archive
Again, this law that the truth is found in the balance of the antinomies appears in man's equal passion for continuity and permanency and for variety and change.
From Preaching and Paganism by Albert Parker Fitch
An essay in this philosophy, with its inevitable internal contradictions and antinomies, is what I have attempted in these essays.
From Tragic Sense Of Life by J. E. Crawford (John Ernest Crawford) Flitch
A program of social education, we say, might be based upon a consideration of these antinomies.
From The Psychology of Nations A Contribution to the Philosophy of History by G.E. Partridge
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
