We are always careful about being consistent aren’t we?
You apply a rule or preference to something you like, and ignore it where you don’t prefer it – and everyone calls you out for it.
Not being consistent is the opposite of logic, and mathematical thinking.
Contradicting yourself is shallow.
And it is something that all critical thinkers seek to avoid.
Is this correct though?
I don’t know.
Most of the time it is probably, but what about the exceptions?
Contradicting yourself is sometimes alright because: It’s more complicated than that.
I do know that I love Walt Whitman’s take on the nuance of some contradiction.
“Poets like Walt Whitman got this. He wrote: Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)”
–Eric Greitens, Resilience
