Horror Contradictionis

Contradiction between sharp propositions is a major engine of progress in logic, both in reasoning and in related tasks. And yet, in communicative practice, we often try to avoid confl ict, and logic also has several strategies for "defusing" contradictions. This chapter discusses some of these, including changes of arity for predicates, relativization of domains, and retreat to weaker statements about agents'beliefs. I note a few folklore facts about the reach of these methods, and then relate the balance between accepting and defusing contradictions to issues in belief revision and game theory. In doing so, I place "relativism" in a setting of information dynamics: an optimal take on a contradiction depends on its success in facilitating subsequent communication.