paradox

"" The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."" -- F. Scott Fitzgerald. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, ""The Crack-Up,"" in American Literary Masters, vol. 2, ed. Charles R. Anderson, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965, p. 1007)

Paradox is ...

• The simultaneous existence of two contradictory ideas
• A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true
• An assertion that is essentially self-contradictory, though based on a valid deduction from acceptable premises
• Conflicting opposites simultaneously existing without being resolved. The genuine simultaneous coexistence of two contradictory movements -- such as stability and instability at the same time.

Kant, like Aristotle, believed that paradox was a sign of faulty thinking. Kant used the notion of dualism to eliminate the contradictions between the realists and the radical skeptics

See strategy for an explanation of dynamic phenomena pertinent to strategy and organizational change.

Strategic management and views of opposing ideas --

See dichotomy for a comparison of dualism, dichotomy, paradox, and reconciliation and their implications for approaching strategic management.