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353
THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE TERM “ALOGISM” IN
STYLISTICS
.
Samatova Zulhumor
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8384346
Abstract.
This article highlights the data related to one of the most crucial branches of the
linguistics, stylistics.
Key words:
stylistics, alogism, logical difficulties, tropes.
ИСТОРИЯ И РАЗВИТИЕ ТЕРМИНА “АЛОГИЗМ” В СТИЛИСТИКЕ.
Аннотация.
В этой статье освещаются данные, относящиеся к одной из
важнейших отраслей лингвистики - стилистике.
Ключевые слова:
стилистика, алогизм, логические трудности, тропы.
INTRODUCTION.
Language is a powerful tool that humans use to convey ideas, emotions, and complex
concepts and linguistics is a multifaceted field that delves into the intricate nature of human
language. Among its many sub-disciplines, stylistics is an area that focuses on the study of style
in language. Style encompasses various elements of linguistic expression, and it can be analyzed
through different tools and techniques, one of which is the use of stylistic tropes. However, the
relationship between stylistics and stylistic tropes is not always straightforward. In this article, we
will explore the concept of alogism in linguistics, specifically in the context of stylistics and
stylistic tropes.
Stylistics is the study of how language is used to convey meaning, evoke emotions, and
create an impact. It examines the choices made by writers or speakers to convey their message
effectively. Stylistic analysis considers various linguistic elements such as syntax, diction, tone,
and figurative language to unveil the unique style of a text. Stylistic tropes, on the other hand, are
figurative expressions or rhetorical devices used to enhance the language's aesthetic or emotional
qualities. These include metaphors, similes, irony, and other forms of figurative language that
deviate from literal language use. Stylistic tropes add depth and nuance to a text, making it more
engaging and memorable.
Alogism in Linguistics.
Alogism refers to the deliberate use of language in a way that appears to lack logic or
rationality. Alogism can manifest in various forms, such as nonsense words, absurd syntax, or
disjointed discourse. It challenges conventional linguistic norms and often serves a specific artistic
or communicative purpose. The term “alogism” is actively used in literary studies, but initially it
was part of the terminological apparatus of philosophy. Alogism was interpreted not only as a
logical error, a violation of the laws of logic, but also as a denial of logical thinking and even logic
itself .
1
It is necessary to find out what has long been known in science about alogism and what
has been done new in science in the 20th-21st centuries. This article is devoted to explore the
advancement of the concept “alogism”
1
Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary 1983
.
20p
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The term “Alogism” in antiquity.
The problem of alogism has been covered in philosophy since antiquity, although the term
was introduced only in the 6th century. Aristotle has a term whose meaning is directly opposite to
the meaning of the adjective logical: in “Poetics” he speaks of statements incompatible with logic
(ákoya), from which the term “alogism” subsequently came. Sometimes, as a synonym for alua,
Aristotle uses the term atoloѵ (impossible, absurd)
2
Aristotle’s theory of syllogisms, by which he understood “speech in which, if something is
presupposed, then something different from what is posited necessarily follows due to the fact that
what is posited exists”. Aristotle develops a more general theory of the grounds on which errors
arise. He formulates three logical laws
3
[2. 8], and interprets them from different points of view.
The formal interpretation of the law of non-contradiction sounds in his works as follows: “... it is
impossible for something contradictory to one another to be simultaneously true in relation to the
same thing...” and “.. it is impossible to correctly affirm and deny the same thing at the same time.”
and at the same time...”
4
.
Further, Aristotle gives an ontological interpretation of this law as a universal principle of
being: “What exists has a beginning in relation to which one cannot be mistaken - it always
necessarily forces the opposite, that is, it forces one to say correctly, namely that the same thing
cannot one and the same time to be and not to be...”
5
. From the point of view of a philosopher, the
law of non-contradiction intersects with the law of identity. Aristotle formulates the law of the
excluded middle as follows: “In the same way, there can be nothing intermediate between the two
terms of the contradiction, and regarding one thing it is necessary to either affirm or deny it”
6
.
This position of Aristotle sounds in the Latin statement, which has become a popular expression:
“Tertium non datur” or the Third is not given.
Other logical laws, many of which have developed historically, have a similar meaning. In
particular, the law of double negation and Peirce's law are equivalent to intuitionistic logic. The
fourth logical law of sufficient reason is formulated by Leibniz, although this law was previously
implied in many systems of logic (for example, Leucippus or Aristotle). In a work entitled
Monadology, Leibniz formulated this “principle” as follows: “No phenomenon can be real, no
statement just, true, or without a sufficient reason why things are so and not otherwise, although
these reasons are in most cases cannot be known to us at all”
7
. The basic logical laws were
developed much earlier than the beginning of the use of rich mathematical tools and complex
calculus, many of which showed their relative nature.
However, already in antiquity, a philosophical revision of accumulated logical ideas began
and logical laws came under attack. Zeno of Elea (c. 490 BC - c. 430 BC), an ancient Greek
philosopher, student of Parmenides, tried to prove the impossibility of movement, space and
multitude. As arguments, he cited aporia (Greek aporia, “hopelessness, hopeless situation”), which
2
Popov. “Poetics” 1974.40p
3
Popov. “Poetics” 1974.8p
4
Aristotle “The Ethics” Penguin books.1976. 15-23p.
5
Aristotle “The Ethics” Penguin books.1976. 34-106p.
6
Aristotle “The Ethics” Penguin books.1976. 21-24p.
7
Gottfried Wilhelm Freiherr von Leibniz “Manodology” 1982. 418p
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fixes contradictions in the concepts of movement, space and time, and in general any intractable
and insoluble problems, insurmountable logical difficulties. In other words, aporias are
fundamentally illogical.
In Aristotle's Poetics the following definition of metaphor is found: “A figurative word
(metaphor) is an unusual name transferred from genus to species, or from species to genus, or from
species to species, or by analogy”
8
. In other words, in metaphor there is a shift in generic and
specific characteristics.
The ideas and teachings of ancient philosophy opened up a new facet of the relationship
between language and thinking, which was later updated in the dispute between the analogists of
the Alexandrian school and the Stoics of the Pergamon school. The main question of the dispute
that laid the foundation for the study of linguistic deviations (anomalies) is the following question:
is there any pattern in the language analogia (conformity, proportionality, similarity) or does
everything depend on the use, which often does not coincide with the general rules.
The idea of illogicalism in the Middle Ages.
With the advent of Christianity, the status of philosophy changes, and with-it logic, while
in Arab countries, in countries of Arabic-speaking culture, logic still retains an independent
position (Al-Farabi, Ibn-Sin, Ibn-Rushd, etc.). Al-Farabi, in his work on the classification of
sciences, presents logic as an important cognitive-evaluative aid that “guides a person on the path
of truth”
9
. In Europe, the dominance of theocentric views slowed down the development of logic
as an independent science. Anselm of Canterbury put forward the thesis about the need to
subordinate philosophical positions to church dogmas, and reason to faith.
Thomas Aquinas, who found support for Christian doctrine in theology.” The ancient
philosopher was Christianized, and his teaching became an auxiliary basis for the development of
scholasticism, which is considered a type of religious philosophy that combines theology and
logic. A.L. Subbotin identifies several distinctive features of scholastic logic.
Firstly, “the view of logical methods of thinking was predominantly logical-grammatical.”
Secondly, “scholastic logic is characterized by the predominance of technical, purely formal
elements and techniques in interpretation”
10
. Logic becomes a huge methodological aid for other
sciences (theology, law, medicine, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music). Thus, for a
medieval preacher, knowledge of rhetoric, logic and its laws were necessary to construct a clearly
reasoned speech.
The main goal of logic in the Middle Ages was “to separate the true from the false through
subtle reasoning”
11
. Accordingly, what we call alogism was understood as an error leading to a
false idea, conclusion, and, therefore, the main immanent thing in faith, because it is absurd) has
not been overcome to this day. Formal-logical details about which can be found in the works of
Pierre Abelard, Leo Taxil, A.I. L.I. Balashov gives examples of violations of logical laws in the
Bible: “God forgives everything, and at the same time creates hell, where souls are eternally
tormented”
8
Aristotle “The Ethics” Penguin books.1976. 5-8p
9
Al-Farabiy.1970. 118p
10
А.АРНО и П.НИКОЛЬ “Логика, или Искусство мыслить” 1991. 393p
11
Isidore Seville “The Etymologies” 2006. Cambridge University Press. 9p
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Understanding the essence of illogic in modern times
At the beginning of modern times, F. Bacon and R. Descartes sharply opposed Aristotelian
logic, scholastic zed by the Middle Ages. The symbol of this confrontation was the work of F.
Bacon “New Organon”, which, according to the author, was supposed to replace Aristotle’s
“Organon” and become a new basis for scientific knowledge. The logical doctrine contained in the
work of Aristotle, according to Bacon, cannot meet the modern requirements of science and is
“useless for scientific discoveries”
12
.
Bacon formulates the differences between his logic and the “old” logic as follows: “The
sharp difference between them lies mainly in three things: in the goal itself, in the order of proof
and in the beginnings of the investigation”
13
. Rejecting the syllogical method of research, he laid
the foundation for the development of new ways of establishing cause-and-effect relationships in
objective reality with the development of rationalism, the system of classical logic is subject to
revision. B. Spinoza introduces the concept of intuition as knowledge of a higher order. It is the
highest manifestation of human rational abilities.
It is based on the fourth method of perception, in which “a thing is perceived solely through
its essence or through knowledge of its immediate cause”
14
. An important place in the history of
the development of science is occupied by the “General Rational Grammar of Port-Royal”, which
united grammar, philology, philosophy and formalized a new linguistic concept affecting these
related areas. A little later, “Logic Port-Royal” was published. This work was based on Descartes'
ideas about intuition, which he recognized as the highest form of intellectual knowledge, more
reliable than deduction. Focusing on the problem of knowledge, A. Arnaud and P. Nicole devote
about a quarter of the entire book to Aristotle's theory of syllogism.
One of the most important changes in the meaning of the term alogism (paralogism) was
made by I. Kant, who distinguished logical paralogism (he defined it as a conclusion that is false
in its logical form) from transcendental paralogism, which “has a transcendental basis for a
conclusion that is false in its form”
15
. Kant called it a logical-philosophical error, since the simple
in abstraction is completely different from the simple in the object, and the I, which in the first
meaning does not contain any variety, in the second meaning, when it means the soul, can be a
very complex concept, and namely, it can contain and mean a lot
16
. In logic, starting with Kant,
there has been a tendency to isolate ourselves from psychology, to exclude from the content of
logic any psychological principles that were presented in Port-Royal’s Logic, to present it as a
doctrine of “pure thought”.
A valuable contribution to the development of the term alogism is made by G.V.F. Hegel
is the creator of the doctrine of dialectical contradictions. He opposed universal and objective
character: “There is no object in which it would be impossible to find contradictions, that is,
opposite definitions, since an object that does not contradict itself forcibly holds back one pure
abstraction of the mind, two certainties, and tries to obscure and eliminate the consciousness of
12
Francis Bacon “The New Organon” 1977. 28p
13
Francis Bacon “The New Organon” 1977. 70p
14
Спиноза Бенедикт “Избранные произведения в двух томах”. Том 2. 50p
15
Immanuel Kant
“
The Philosophy of Kant”
1994. 301p
16
Immanuel Kant
“
The Philosophy of Kant”
1994. 574p
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the other certainty contained in first"
17
. This idea correlates with the theory of alogism, which is
mentioned when speaking about Hegel’s philosophy. According to this theory, everything that
exists is an embodiment of reason or logos. The laws of logic are not only the laws of our thinking,
but also the basic laws of reality, in which everything is determined by logical necessity. Thus,
ontology comes closer to logic. Hegel ontologizes logical ideas and logical concepts, which leads
to Hegel's alogism. According to Hegel, truth is not directly known in sensory perception, it is
known in thinking.
In the philosophy of modern times, the question of the relationship between sensory and
logical knowledge is being emphasized. One of the directions that tried to solve this problem was
irrationalism. Within this direction, alogism acquires the status of a philosophical principle.
Criticism of logical laws in the 19th-20th centuries
Logical laws in the 19th-20th centuries came under criticism. Hegel noted that the logical
laws of contradiction and excluded middle cannot always be applied. He presented the latter, in
particular, in the following form: “The spirit is green or is not green,” and asked a “tricky”
question: which of these two statements is true? The answer to this question, however, is not
difficult. Neither of the two statements: “Spirit is green” and “Spirit is not green” is true, since
both of them are meaningless. The law of excluded middle applies only to meaningful statements.
It should be noted that Hegel’s ideas presented in “The Science of Logic” do not refute
formal logic, but, according to the philosopher’s plan, develop an understanding of the logical to
the speculative level. Hegel's criticisms of formal logic became widespread. In logic at the end of
the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. a scientific revolution occurred that radically changed
the face of this science. But even the enormous successes achieved by logic could not completely
eradicate those ideas about it, at the origins of which Hegel stood.
German historian logician H. Scholz wrote that Hegel’s criticism of formal logic was such
a great evil that it is still difficult to overestimate it
18
. In 1908, the article by the Dutch
mathematician and philosopher L. Brouwer, “On the unreliability of logical principles,” was
published, where a serious criticism of the law of excluded middle was given. A little later, Russian
logician N.A. Vasiliev and the Polish logician Jan Lukasiewicz simultaneously, but independently
of each other, criticized the law of non-contradiction. These non-classical views of the logical
system, which developed over such a long time, were caused by the development of mathematical
ideas. L. Brouwer discovered paradoxes in set theory, which gave rise to his critical ideas.
The attitude towards logical laws in different sciences remains different. E.D. Smirnova
emphasizes: “The intensive development of modern logic, its application to the philosophy of
mathematics, methodology of science, computer technology, programming, computer science and
the logical analysis of natural languages have led to the emergence of logical systems of various
types”
19
. Accordingly, each logical system has its own set of logical laws. For example, for
mathematical logic the law of commutativity will be relevant and acceptable: A and B = B and A.
According
B = B and A. In relation to the language-speech system, this law will not function: it cannot
be said that the components of the sentence were dark, and no one could see it (M. Yu. Lermontov)
17
Philosophical Encyclopedia 1962. 108p
18
“Ivan” 1998 Австралия короткометражка, драма Morgan Read.
19
E.D. Smirnova “Logic and Philosophy” 1996.3p.
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have an unfixed order. In the 19th century, representatives of the psychological trend in linguistics
(H. Steinthal, W. Wundt, M. Deichbein, M.A. Tulov, F.F. Fortunatov) put forward the position
that language is illogical. Researchers pointed out the impossibility of analyzing linguistic
phenomena from the standpoint of logic and gave preference to psychological processes in
language. G.V. Kolshansky, comparing the main directions, the subject of research of which is the
problem of the relationship between logic and the structure of language.
Despite scientific criticism, the new logical laws have not yet lost their relevance in many
sciences. Thus, in linguistics, these laws are mentioned in connection with the communicative
qualities of speech, which are considered by the stylistics of language, speech culture, and rhetoric.
Along with them, errors that are a consequence of violation of the above laws are also analyzed.
In the sciences, violation of logical laws (the law of identity, the law of non-contradiction, the law
of the excluded middle, the law of sufficient reason) is referred to as the phenomenon of alogism.
As rightly noted by A.P. Skovorodnikov, this term in “the culture of speech, stylistics and rhetoric
does not have a generally accepted definition”
20
.
CONCLUSION.
A scientific excursion into the history of the problem of alogism in logic and linguistics
shows that this phenomenon has always been of scientific interest. With the development of
scientific thought, the idea of alogism as a philosophical principle of knowledge develops.
traditional representation 0 The appearance of ideas, logic as debunking the generalizing
component of the process of cognition, speaks of the epistemological importance of this
phenomenon. The history of science has shown that not only logical laws and rules contribute to
the knowledge of reality, but also taking into account phenomena not related to logic: intuition,
creative feeling. The emergence of logical and philosophical systems of various kinds has led to
the attention of researchers to logical deviations. It should be noted that in the history of science,
alogism has almost always been analyzed from the perspective.
The history of science has shown that not only logical laws and rules contribute to the
knowledge of reality, but also taking into account phenomena not related to logic: intuition,
creative feeling. The emergence of logical and philosophical systems of various kinds has led to
the attention of researchers to logical deviations. It should be noted that in the history of science,
alogism was almost always analyzed from the point of view of language: Aristotle’s “refutations”
of sophisms were carried out from the point of view of language, errors in conclusions in modern
times were analyzed from the point of view.
REFERENCES.
1.
Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary 1983.
2.
Popov. “Poetics” 1974
3.
Aristotle “The Ethics” Penguin books.1976
4.
Gottfried Wilhelm Freiherr von Leibniz “Manodology” 1982
5.
Al-Farabiy.1970
6.
А.АРНО и П.НИКОЛЬ “Логика, или Искусство мыслить” 1991
7.
Isidore Seville “The Etymologies” 2006. Cambridge University Press
20
Encyclopedic dictionary-reference book 2005. 25p
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«MODERN SCIENCE АND RESEARCH»
VOLUME 2 / ISSUE 9 / UIF:8.2 / MODERNSCIENCE.UZ
359
8.
Francis Bacon “The New Organon” 1977
9.
Спиноза Бенедикт “Избранные произведения в двух томах”. Том 2
10.
Immanuel Kant “The Philosophy of Kant” 1994
11.
Philosophical Encyclopedia 1962
12.
“Ivan” 1998 Австралия короткометражка, драма Morgan Read
13.
E.D. Smirnova “Logic and Philosophy” 1996
14.
Encyclopedic dictionary-reference book 2005
15.
Садовников Сергей Аркадьевич АЛОГИЗМ РЕЧИ КАК ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННЫЙ
ПРИЁМ В ТВОРЧЕСТВЕ А.П. ПЛАТОНОВ. Диссертация на соискание ученой
степени кандидата филологических наук.
