F. Scott Fitzgerald on Self-Contradiction: Stupidity vs. Wisdom vs. Multiple Personality

“It’s No Felony to Violate the Law of Contradiction” says an essay in today’s Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/its-no-felony-to-violate-the-law-of-contradiction-11565910307

The essay begins with a famous quotation from F. Scott Fitzgerald:

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” —from The Crack-up [1936]

But F. Scott Fitzgerald, like most fiction writers, may have had multiple personality trait, as another of his quotes suggests:

“Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person.” —from The Love of The Last Tycoon: A Western [1941]

In short, there are different kinds and degrees of contradictory attitudes, ranging from stupidity to wisdom to the puzzling inconsistency of alternate personalities (puzzling when you don’t know that the person has multiple personality).