A performative contradiction arises when the propositional content of a statement contradicts the presuppositions of asserting it. An example of a performative contradiction is the statement “I am dead” because the very act of proposing it presupposes the actor is alive. Performative contradictions

The statement “Don’t do as I do, do as I say” is arguably a performative contradiction because its assertion presupposes it being said by an asserter, rendering the two directives contradictory. The statement “Hierarchies do not exist” offers a more subtle example of performative contradiction referring to the very capacity of making a statement, because the statement itself is a hierarchy of semiotic relations of letters (as symbols) formed into words (as signifiers) formed into a sentence (as a statement).