Abstract

Building on Łukasiewicz’s recognition of a psychological formulation of the contradiction principle in Aristotle, in this note we explore the possibility of an alternative treatment of the principle, which is still based on understanding it as a psychical function. We assume the recent logicality of language hypothesis, which proposes that the rules of formation in natural languages are sensitive to logical considerations, to the point that some contradictory structures are taken to be excluded as ungrammatical precisely due to their logical status. Based on the inclusion of the hypothesis within a mentalistic conception of the language system, we note that in the account rejecting a contradiction does not imply any conscious recognition by speakers; we then speculate that it is possible to overcome Łukasiewicz’s criticism, to the effect that the psychological principle cannot be an empirical law, by adopting a universalistic assumption of the «constitutional uniformity of individuals».