Buchcover Spaces of Dissension

Knowledges and Contradictions in Premodern Narratives.

Contribution

Elisabeth Lienert

2019

Contradiction is not just a (post-)modern phenomenon. In premodern narratives, conflicting concepts and logical inconsistencies are omnipresent. This paper focuses on contradictions interdependent with knowledge: Traditional narratives may aggregate different versions of matters rooted in collective memory (heroic epic) or authoritative sources (romances of antiquity), sometimes without concern for the consistency of their own story. Narrative texts may use contradiction for didactic purposes. Contradictions may result in both construction and deconstruction of knowledge. Strategies of irritation and ambiguity involve recipients in the production of meaning. Thus, the concept of contradiction is apt to redefine premodern narrative strategies.

In Lossau, Julia, Daniel Schmidt-Brücken, Ingo H. Warnke (eds.) Spaces of Dissension. Towards a New Perspective on Contradiction (Reihe Contradiction Studies). Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 19-37.

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ISBN: 978-3-658-25989-1

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Back to overview
paradox

“The basis of law is not an idea as a systematic unified principle but a paradox.”

Andreas Fischer-Lescano
relational

“At first I thought contradiction was always a relational thing; but the more I ponder it, the more I think contradiction creates relation.”

Ingo H. Warnke
sustained engagement

“The history of Western philosophy can be understood as a sustained engagement with contradiction.”

Norman Sieroka
l’illusion d’une unité

“Foucault speaks of contradiction as l’illusion d’une unité.”

Ingo H. Warnke
driver

“Contradictions are an important driver of scientific practice and knowledge.”

Norman Sieroka