The term "nonsense" is often casually thrown about, yet a technical definition can clarify discourse immensely. Let's define nonsense rigorously:
Nonsense: An utterance, proposition, or symbolic expression lacking interpretability within any coherent semantic or syntactic framework, thus failing to convey determinate meaning, reference, or truth conditions—even under maximally charitable interpretation. This definition aligns closely with Conditionalism, a philosophical framework emphasizing that meaningful truth values can only exist conditionally, based upon explicitly stated interpretive contexts.
Formally, a proposition P is nonsense if:
where I represents any semantic interpretation assigning truth values.
Applying this strict definition, we explore four popular disciplines: Theology, Queer Theory, Astrology, and Homeopathy, along with contrasting examples that clearly are not nonsense.
Theology
Theology frequently makes statements referencing inherently ineffable, transcendent entities:
Example: "God is timeless yet acts within history."
Statements like these resist coherent semantic interpretation due to contradictory predicates. The combination of timelessness (no temporal relations) with actions (which necessitate temporal relations) renders these claims semantic and referential nonsense.
Queer Theory
Queer Theory deliberately destabilizes categories and defies semantic coherence:
Example: "Gender is simultaneously a performance and an oppressive reality enforced by society."
Such claims intentionally collapse semantic clarity. By embracing paradoxes and fluid definitions, Queer Theory explicitly positions itself in the domain of semantic nonsense as a methodological stance.
Astrology
Astrological assertions regularly commit explicit category mistakes, linking unrelated domains:
Example: "Mars entering Aries brings passionate energy to your career."
This claim unambiguously blends astronomical phenomena with psychological or economic outcomes without causal or semantic grounding, making astrology technically nonsensical.
Homeopathy
Homeopathy claims that extreme dilutions amplify medicinal effects, violating basic chemistry and logic:
Example: "Water retains a memory of substances it once contained."
This foundational claim has no coherent chemical or physical interpretation. It defies interpretability, constituting semantic and referential nonsense.
Examples of Non-Nonsense
Contrast these with examples that clearly possess coherent interpretability:
Example: "Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius at standard atmospheric pressure."
Example: "Within the Quantum Branching Universe (QBU) framework, timelines branch according to precise quantum events, and these branches are defined clearly by Measures, Credences, and Pattern Identifiers."
These propositions are clear, empirically verifiable or logically consistent, and maintain coherent truth conditions and references, clearly avoiding nonsense by any semantic criterion.
Conclusion
Theology, Queer Theory, Astrology, and Homeopathy are popular yet technically qualify as nonsense under rigorous semantic analysis. While Theology and Queer Theory often acknowledge their paradoxes explicitly or methodologically, Astrology and Homeopathy fail to provide even conditional coherence.
Adopting this rigorous approach allows for clearer intellectual boundaries and more precise evaluation of various domains of discourse, distinguishing between meaningful claims, symbolic practices, and explicit nonsense.
References
Carnap, Rudolf. (1932). "The Elimination of Metaphysics Through Logical Analysis of Language." Erkenntnis 2:219–241.
Popper, Karl. (1959). The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Routledge.
Quine, W.V.O. (1960). Word and Object. MIT Press.
Sokal, Alan and Bricmont, Jean. (1998). Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science. Picador.
Wallace, David. (2012). The Emergent Multiverse: Quantum Theory According to the Everett Interpretation. Oxford University Press.