"Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong"
About this Quote
The maxim asserts that reality is consistent and that the mind, using reason, can grasp it without needing to embrace paradox. Rand draws on an Aristotelian principle: a thing cannot be and not be in the same respect at the same time. If conclusions collide, the clash exposes an error in the premises driving them. The instruction to check your premises is both logical advice and a moral directive. It urges a return to definitions, contexts, and causal chains, rather than accepting contradictions as mysterious features of life.
The line is a recurring maxim in Atlas Shrugged and a cornerstone of Objectivism. Rand wrote amid 20th-century debates over collectivism, relativism, and the nature of truth. She saw political and ethical confusions as resting on premises that were never examined. Want wealth while despising profit? Expect innovation while vilifying self-interest? Demand freedom while endorsing coercion? In her framework, contradictions like these do not mark the world; they reveal faulty starting points, often smuggled in through vague concepts or borrowed moralities.
Checking premises is a method. Identify the concepts in play, specify the context, and trace conclusions back to the assumptions they rely on. Many apparent contradictions melt when terms are clarified. A policy that claims to expand prosperity while punishing production fails once you define prosperity as the result of value creation. A relationship that promises trust while excusing deception collapses once you define trust. Even in science and economics, anomalies press researchers to reconsider measurements, models, or scope conditions rather than treating nature as incoherent.
Critics may say life is full of paradox and trade-offs. Rand would answer that trade-offs are not contradictions: they are choices between values under constraints. Apparent paradoxes often reflect category errors or context switches. The admonition is ultimately a vote of confidence in reason and in reality. It challenges the comfort of ambiguity by demanding intellectual accountability at the roots of belief.
The line is a recurring maxim in Atlas Shrugged and a cornerstone of Objectivism. Rand wrote amid 20th-century debates over collectivism, relativism, and the nature of truth. She saw political and ethical confusions as resting on premises that were never examined. Want wealth while despising profit? Expect innovation while vilifying self-interest? Demand freedom while endorsing coercion? In her framework, contradictions like these do not mark the world; they reveal faulty starting points, often smuggled in through vague concepts or borrowed moralities.
Checking premises is a method. Identify the concepts in play, specify the context, and trace conclusions back to the assumptions they rely on. Many apparent contradictions melt when terms are clarified. A policy that claims to expand prosperity while punishing production fails once you define prosperity as the result of value creation. A relationship that promises trust while excusing deception collapses once you define trust. Even in science and economics, anomalies press researchers to reconsider measurements, models, or scope conditions rather than treating nature as incoherent.
Critics may say life is full of paradox and trade-offs. Rand would answer that trade-offs are not contradictions: they are choices between values under constraints. Apparent paradoxes often reflect category errors or context switches. The admonition is ultimately a vote of confidence in reason and in reality. It challenges the comfort of ambiguity by demanding intellectual accountability at the roots of belief.
Quote Details
| Topic | Reason & Logic |
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