Comments by peter_m_siegel

  • An ingenious word for an invaluable concept. -- Steven Pinker [from the cover of Contraduction, by Dan Barker (Hypatia Press).

    The very point of the book is that we might assume it is a malapropism, but then realize that ordinary concepts (such as the notion that the sun sets and rises) are in fact "backwards" (i.e. the earth in fact does the setting and rising). Let's allow for thinking out of the box.

    December 24, 2024

  • From a book "Contraduction" by Dan Barker, president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

    Citation below from contraduction.com

    contraduction

    con•tra•duce

    verb

    invert an order, whether of time, motion, position, causality or relationship.

    “Dawkins was able to contraduce that genes are not here for us; we are here for genes.”

    con•tra•duc•tion

    noun

    The act of contraducing something.

    “The human point of view can result in many contraductions.”

    An informal fallacy that inverts reality.

    “The idea that the sun rises is a contraduction.”

    con•tra•duc•to•ry

    adjective

    Involving, causing, or constituting a contraduction.

    “Whichever way the causal arrow points, the opposite way is contraductory.”

    Fallaciously inverted.

    “It is contraductory to think that the crowing of the rooster causes the dawn.”

    December 6, 2024