antinomy
English
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin antinomia + English -y (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition, quality, or state); antinomia is derived from Ancient Greek ἀντινομία (antinomía), from ἀντι- (anti-, prefix meaning ‘against’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- (“face; forehead; front”)) + νόμος (nómos, “custom, usage; law, ordinance”) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-íā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns), with νόμος (nómos) derived from νέμω (némō, “to deal out, dispense, distribute”) (from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to distribute; to give; to take”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns indicating actions or their results).[1] The English word may be analysed as anti- (prefix meaning ‘against; opposite of’) + -nomy (suffix indicating a system of laws, rules, or knowledge about a body of a particular field).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: ăntĭ'nəmē, IPA(key): /ænˈtɪnəmi/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Hyphenation: an‧ti‧nomy
Noun
antinomy (plural antinomies)
- (archaic) A contradiction within a law, or between different laws; also, a contradiction between authorities.
- (by extension) Any contradiction or paradox.
- Synonym: (archaic, rare) antinome
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- (specifically, epistemology, logic) In the thought of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804): an apparent contradiction between valid conclusions; a paradox.
- 1884, Charles Carroll Everett, Fichte’s Science of Knowledge: A Critical Exposition[1], page 12:
- This introduces the antinomy that has followed us through the whole study. The solution of this antinomy is found in making the Not-me, which interrupts self-consciousness, really reflect self-consciousness, by manifesting the nature of the I—in other words, by making it conform to the ideal of the soul.
- 1991, Vann McGee, Truth, Vagueness, & Paradox: An Essay on the Logic of Truth[2], page 67:
- Of the work that has been done on the liar antinomy, possibly the most profound and certainly the most influential has been that of Tarski
Usage notes
- Not to be confused with antimony.
- As regards sense 2.1 (“apparent contradiction between valid conclusions”), Kant used antinomy in his work Critique of Pure Reason (1781) to speak of two valid conclusions that appeared to contradict each other, but that could be resolved when it was seen that they were from two distinct and exclusive sets. So no paradox exists, only that the inappropriate application of an idea from one set to another causes a seeming paradox.
Derived terms
Related terms
- antinome (archaic, rare)
- antinomian
- antinomianism
- antinomist (obsolete)
- antinomistic
Translations
contradiction within a law, or between different laws; also, a contradiction between authorities
(epistemology, logic) apparent contradiction between valid conclusions
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References
- ^ Compare “antinomy, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, November 2010; “antinomy, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂ent-
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *nem-
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English learned borrowings from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms prefixed with anti-
- English terms suffixed with -nomy
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with archaic senses
- en:Epistemology
- en:Logic
- English terms with quotations
- en:Paradoxes
- English terms suffixed with -y (abstract noun)