Paradoxes

Abstract

Paradoxes are best characterized as unacceptable conclusions derived by apparently acceptable reasoning from apparently acceptable premises. They have positive and negative aspects. The positive is that they may be true from a different point of view, the negative is that they are absurd or contradictory. A paradox is a heightened ambiguity. The paradoxical is an impasse, an apparent impossibility, which needs courage to face. It can be a driving force in human development because the contradictions it embodies cannot be absolute; it is neither absolutely false nor absolutely incomprehensible (Sainsbury, 2009; Cook, 2013).