law of the excluded middle

1 definition found

law of the excluded middle - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Contradiction \Con`tra*dic"tion\, n. [L. contradictio answer,
     objection: cf. F. contradiction.]
     1. An assertion of the contrary to what has been said or
        affirmed; denial of the truth of a statement or assertion;
        contrary declaration; gainsaying.
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              His fair demands
              Shall be accomplished without contradiction. --Shak.
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     2. Direct opposition or repugnancy; inconsistency;
        incongruity or contrariety; one who, or that which, is
        inconsistent.
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              can he make deathless death? That were to make
              Strange contradiction.                --Milton.
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              We state our experience and then we come to a manly
              resolution of acting in contradiction to it.
                                                    --Burke.
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              Both parts of a contradiction can not possibly be
              true.                                 --Hobbes.
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              Of contradictions infinite the slave. --Wordsworth.
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     Principle of contradiction (Logic), the axiom or law of
        thought that a thing cannot be and not be at the same
        time, or a thing must either be or not be, or the same
        attribute can not at the same time be affirmed and and
        denied of the same subject; also called the law of the  excluded middle
        .
  
     Note: It develops itself in three specific forms which have
           been called the "Three Logical Axioms." First, "A is
           A." Second, "A is not Not-A" Third, "Everything is
           either A or Not-A."
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