3.6 Absurdity in Logic

In logic, absurdity is usually understood as an internally contradictory expression. In such an expression, something is affirmed and denied at the same time, as, say, in the statement “Mermaids exist, and there are no mermaids”.

An expression that is not outwardly contradictory, but from which a contradiction can still be derived, is also considered absurd. For example, in the statement “Ivan the Terrible was the son of childless parents” there is only a statement, but there is no denial and there is no corresponding contradiction. But it is clear that an obvious contradiction arises from this statement: "Some woman is a mother, and she is not a mother."

The absurd as internally contradictory does not apply, of course, to the senseless. “The robber was quartered into three unequal halves” - this, of course, is absurd, but not meaningless, but false, since it is internally contradictory.

The logical law of contradiction speaks of the inadmissibility of simultaneous approval and denial. An absurd statement is a direct violation of this law.

Understanding the absurd as a denial or violation of some established law is widespread in the natural sciences.

According to physics, the absurd are, for example, such inconsistent with its principles of affirmation, as "Astronauts flew from Jupiter to Earth in three minutes" and "Sincere prayer overcomes earthly gravity and elevates man to God." Biological statements are absurd from the point of view of biology: “Microbes originate from dirt” and “Man appeared on Earth immediately in the form in which he exists now.”

Of course, there is no particular certainty in the use of the word "absurd". Even in logic, the concepts “meaningless” and “absurd” are used interchangeably. In ordinary language, the inner contradictory and meaningless is called absurd, and in general everything is absurdly exaggerated, caricatured, etc.

In logic, evidence is considered by casting it to the absurd: if a contradiction is derived from a certain position, then this statement is false.

There is also an artistic device - bringing to the point of absurdity, having, however, only external resemblance with this evidence.