Performative contradiction

A performative contradiction arises when the making of an utterance rests on necessary <a href="/facts/Presupposition_(philosophy)/3K6D2Un9">presuppositions</a> that contradict the proposition asserted in the utterance.
The term was coined by <a href="/facts/J%C3%BCrgen_Habermas/R4mKqACW">Jürgen Habermas</a> and <a href="/facts/Karl-Otto_Apel/1cCGmJtN">Karl-Otto Apel</a>, who attribute the first elaboration of the concept to <a href="/facts/Jaakko_Hintikka/LurBDWkW">Jaakko Hintikka</a>, in his analysis of <a href="/facts/Descartes/ohqj6DMf">Descartes</a>' <a href="/facts/Cogito_ergo_sum/43EhppDy">cogito ergo sum</a> argument. Hintikka concluding that cogito ergo sum relies on performance rather than logical inference.
Habermas claims that <a href="/facts/Post-modernism/aBgbw8QJ">post-modernism</a>'s <a href="/facts/Epistemological_relativism/d1mKoASf">epistemological relativism</a> suffers from a performative contradiction. <a href="/facts/Hans-Hermann_Hoppe/RYMvSo7I">Hans-Hermann Hoppe</a> claims in his theory of <a href="/facts/Discourse_ethics/kGe7htr5">discourse ethics</a> that arguing against <a href="/facts/Self-ownership/AoUKNXgH">self-ownership</a> results in a performative contradiction.

Performative contradiction open-in-new

Performative contradiction