Dictionary Definition
incorrigible adj : impervious to correction by
punishment [ant: corrigible]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Adjective
Usage notes
- incorrigible is a complex term that has antithetical denotations. In certain contexts, it may be synonymous with impeccable.
Translations
impossible to correct or set aright
incurably bad
impervious to correction by punishment or pain
- ttbc Dutch: onverbeterbaar (things), onverbeterlijk (living objects)
- ttbc German: unverbesserbar, unverbesserlich
Extensive Definition
In philosophy, incorrigibility
is a property of a philosophical proposition,
which implies that it is necessarily
true simply by virtue of being believed. A common example of
such a proposition is René
Descartes' "cogito ergo
sum" (I think, therefore I am).
Johnathan Harrison has argued that "incorrigible"
may be the wrong term, since it seems to imply (by the dictionary
definition)http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Incorrigible
a sense that the beliefs cannot be changed, which isn't actually
true. In Harrison's view, the incorrigibility of a proposition
actually implies something about the nature of believing---for
example, that one must exist in order to believe---rather than the
nature of the proposition itself.
For illustration, consider Descartes': I think,
therefore I exist. Stated in incorrigible form, this could be:
"That I believe that I exist implies that my belief is true."
Harrison argues that a belief being true is really only incidental
to the matter, that really what the cogito proves is that belief
implies existence. One could equally well say, "That I believe God
exists implies that I exist," or "That I believe I do not exist
implies that my belief is false."---and these would have the same
essential meaning as the cogito.
Charles Raff draws a distinction between three
types of incorrigibility:
- Type-1: It is logically necessary that, when the statement is sincerely made, it is true.
- Type-2: It is necessary that when the statement is believed to be true, it is true.
- Type-3: It is necessary that when the statement is true, it is believed to be true.
References
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
bad,
beyond control, beyond recall, beyond remedy, breachy, chronic, confirmed, contumacious, cureless, deep-dyed,
deep-fixed, deep-rooted, deep-seated, deep-set, deep-settled,
defiant,
dyed-in-the-wool, established, fast, fixed, fractious, gone, graceless, habitual, hardened, hopeless, immedicable, implanted, inculcated, incurable, indocile, indomitable, infixed, inflexible, ingrained, inoperable, instilled, insuppressible, intractable, inveterate, irreclaimable, irrecoverable, irredeemable, irreformable, irremediable, irreparable, irrepressible, irretrievable, irreversible, irrevocable,
long-established, lost,
naughty, obdurate, obstreperous, out of hand,
past hope, past praying for, recalcitrant, refractory, remediless, resistant, resisting, restive, rooted, ruined, set, settled, settled in habit,
shrewish, shriftless, sinful, stubborn, terminal, thorough, unalterable, unbiddable, unchangeable, uncontrollable, undone, ungovernable, unmalleable, unmanageable, unmitigable, unmoldable, unredeemable, unregenerate, unrelievable, unruly, unsalvable, unsalvageable, unsubmissive, villainous, wicked, wild