It is not possible to be and not be at the same time: thisis what the logical principle of “non-contradiction” tells us when it mentions that two contradictory statements cannot be true simultaneously. However, quantum mechanics challenges traditional notions of rationality and logic—and so do dreams. The famous Schrödinger’s cat paradox, in whicha cat can, in a state of quantum superposition, be alive and not alive, violates common sense logic. Proposing a broader and more complex understanding of human rationality, we enter the quantum world with the philosopher Patrícia Kauark Leite, and also into the universe of the unconscious, through dreams, via the essayOn the Antithetic Sense of PrimitiveWords, by Sigmund Freud.

Patrícia Kauark Leite is a professor of philosophy at theFederal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and a researcher at the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—Brasil (National Council for Scientific andTechnological Development—Brazil). She received the Louis Liard Prize (2012) from the Académie des sciences morales et politiques de France (Academy of moral science and politics of France) for her book Théorie quantique et philosophie transcendantale: dialogues possibles. (Quantum theory and transcendental philosophy: possible dialogues.)