antinomy
Americannoun
-
antinomies
plural
-
opposition between one law, principle, rule, etc., and another.
-
Philosophy. a contradiction between two statements, both apparently obtained by correct reasoning.
noun
-
opposition of one law, principle, or rule to another; contradiction within a law
-
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
Altruism and Egoism.—Properly understood, altruism and egoism do not form an antinomy, or only quite a relative antinomy.
From The Sexual Question A Scientific, psychological, hygienic and sociological study by Auguste Forel
But it is precisely because Christianity alone of all religions recognises both needs that it transcends the antinomy.
From An Introduction to the Study of Comparative Religion by F. B. (Frank Byron) Jevons
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
Here appear natural antinomies of human thought: on the one hand, the sense of the inevitableness of the designated fate; on the other hand, the consciousness of ability by altering conditions to change conclusions.
From Current Superstitions Collected from the Oral Tradition of English Speaking Folk by Fanny D. (Fanny Dickerson) Bergen
There are four of these antinomies, or conflicts.
From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 14 — Philosophy and Economics by Sir John Alexander Hammerton
No, such cannot be the science which you have promised us, and which, by unveiling for us the secrets of the production and consumption of wealth, must unequivocally solve the social antinomies.
From System of Economical Contradictions; or, the Philosophy of Misery by P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph) Proudhon
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.
