The notion is most frequently cited in reference to the seemingly morally contradictory quality of the works of Robert Louis Stevenson (Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) and James Hogg (The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner).
[6] It is suggested that the emergence of Caledonian Antisyzygy as a tradition is associated with postmodernism, which resonates in Scotland not only due to the increasing cultural diversity in Britain but also because this genre features ontological shifts into worlds that are disjunct from reality.
[6] A disparaging interpretation refers to Caledonian Antisyzygy as the state of anguished examination of conscience and consciousness - a troubled posturing - that characterizes the mindset of Scottish intellectuals.
These include, for instance, Gerard Carruthers (University of Glasgow) who condemned the essentialist (if not racialist) undertones of a concept strongly influenced by the racial dichotomy between the Saxon and Celtic ethnies as they were perceived in the nineteenth century.
'[10] Likewise, Paul Malgrati has criticised the concept of 'Antisyzygy' for its eternalist conceit: a 'jail of paradoxes' preventing Scottish identity from developing in new, uncharted ways.