Thinking about Contradictions

Venanzio Raspa is associate professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Urbino, where he currently teaches Philosophical Propaedeutics and Aesthetics. In 1991 he graduated in philosophy at the University of Urbino and in 1996 he obtained his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Bari. In 1996 he was awarded by the “Stichting ter bevordering van de studie in de dialektische filosofie” from the Rijkuniversiteit Groningen. He has carried out research in Urbino, Berlin, Reading, London, Graz, Leuven, and Amsterdam. He is engaged in ontology and questions concerning its relationships with logic, history and philosophy of logic, aesthetics, Austrian Philosophy (Meinong, Twardowski and Bolzano) and German classical philosophy. In the book In-contraddizione (1999) he examined some concepts of the principle of contradiction, both classical (Aristotle, Kant, Mill, Trendelenburg, Husserl) and contemporary (Łukasiewicz, Vasil’ev, Peirce), assuming as a work hypothesis different notions of object (individuals, incomplete objects, impossibilia, continua). He has continued his research on ontology with the study of Meinong’s object theory (by editing an anthology of texts of the Austrian philosopher and three books of writings on him) and of other representatives of Austrian philosophy (Bolzano and Twardowski), and his research on logic with the study of the imaginary logic by N. A. Vasil’ev. He is the author and editor of several volumes of philosophy in Italian, English, and German, as well as of numerous articles and essays published in journals and volumes.

“The volume is certainly an excellent choice for the libraries of historians of logic. … This book, which shows in an absolutely clear and well-documented way the slow and difficult path traveled by Vasiliev—his sources, influences, innovations, and missteps—is an essential source book for future studies.” (E. L. Gomes, History and Philosophy of Logic, March 29, 2019)

• 1. An Unquiet Life, a Multi-faceted Output.- 2. The Historical and Cultural Context.- 3. The Logic of Concepts.- 4. Non-Aristotelian Logic.- 5. Imaginary Logic.- 6. Interpretations.