Sideroxylon (oxymoron)

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'Sideroxylon' is a noun that signifies and exemplifies a logical inconsistency between a noun and its modifying adjective. According to translator E. F. J. Payne, it was a "…word coined by Schopenhauer from two Greek words to express a contradiction or absurdity."[1] The Greek words are sídēros (iron) and xȳlon (wood). This is similar to the construction of the synonym oxymoron from the Greek oxȳs (sharp) and mōrós (dull).

Schopenhauer used it twice in his works. In the first instance, he wrote: "Suns and planets with no eye to see them and no understanding to know them can of course be spoken of in words, but for the representation these words are a sideroxylon, an iron–wood." (Sonnen und Planeten ohne ein Auge, das sie sieht, und ein Verstand, der sie erkennt, lassen sich zwar mit Worten sagen: aber diese Worte sind für die Vorstellung ein Sideroxylon.)[2] The other use was made in a fictional dialogue between the personifications of the knowing Subject and known objective Matter. The knowing Subject says, "Whoever thinks me away, and then believes he can still think of you, is involved in a gross delusion; for your existence outside my representation is a direct contradiction, a sideroxylon." (Wer mich wegdenkt und dann glaubt, euch noch denken zu können, ist in einer groben Täuschung begriffen: denn euer Dasein außerhalb meiner Vorstellung ist einer gerader Widerspruch, ein Sideroxylon.)[3]

To express the same concept, Schopenhauer also often used the Latin phrase contradictio in adiecto, which means a contradiction of a subsidiary determination contrary to the concept to which it is united, as hot snow, round square, or cold fire. He also used the German words hölzernes Eisen (wooden iron) to express the same logical inconsistency or contradiction.

Friedrich Nietzsche employed Schopenhauer's coinage several times in his works, as does the theologian Karl Barth.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The World as Will and Representation, vol. I, § 7, note
  2. ^ The World as Will and Representation, vol. I, § 7
  3. ^ The World as Will and Representation, vol. II, ch. I