Contradiction Studies

Constitution and/or Declaration. Discussing the Question of the (Linguistic) Construction of Contradictions

Nils Kohlmeier, Fiona Makulik, Anna Mattfeldt, Jonas Trochemowitz & Ingo H. Warnke (RTG Contradiction Studies)

07/12/2023 1:30 pm –2:15 pm

U Bremen – GRA 2 0030

In this Lunchbox we want to discuss what it means to consider contradictions a product of declaration. In order to make clear the history and theoretical assumption of this concept, we want to give a brief input on Speech Act Theory and provide some concrete examples of declarations of contradictions. The main part of this event is going to be an open discussion about the question how these ideas seem interesting or relevant for the fellows of the RTG.

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Is contradiction eurocentric?

“Is contradiction a eurocentric concept, operational phenomenon, and instrument of power?”

Kerstin Knopf
hierarchy of norms

“If social contradictions are reflected in law, law cannot form a hierarchy of norms free of contradictions.”

Andreas Fischer-Lescano
interstice

“The contradiction of law in Derrida lies in the interstice that separates the impossibility of deconstructing justice from the possibility of deconstructing law.”

Andreas Fischer-Lescano
Bhabha on enlightenment and coloniality

“Homi Bhabha says about the contradiction between the ideals of the enlightenment, claims to democracy and solidarity and simultaneous colonization and ongoing coloniality: ‘That ideological tension, visible in the history of the West as a despotic power, at the very moment of the birth of democracy and modernity, has not been adequately written in a contradictory and contrapuntal discourse of tradition.’”

Kerstin Knopf
limits

“Resistance is a democratic right, sometimes a duty. With literature we can find models for this right and think about its limits.”

Gisela Febel