law of contradiction

American  

noun

Logic.

1. the law that a proposition cannot be both true and false or that a thing cannot both have and not have a given property.

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Example Sentences

The law of contradiction, after all, is not enforceable; if it were the jails would overflow.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 2, 2016

For example, the two propositions, 'this tree is a beech' and 'this tree is not a beech', are not coherent, because of the law of contradiction.

From The Problems of Philosophy by Russell, Bertrand

Agreement with this view violates the law of contradiction; denial of it implies that two moments can be immediately adjacent.

From The philosophy of B*rtr*nd R*ss*ll by Various

The law of contradiction warrants us in saying as much as that.

From Deductive Logic by Stock, St. George William Joseph

For example, the law of contradiction states that nothing can both have a certain property and not have it.

From The Problems of Philosophy by Russell, Bertrand