Questions tagged [paradox]
This tag is for arguments that produce an inconsistency with common sense.
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An erotetic argument about the liar paradox
I noticed something about the liar paradox, when the liar sentences are taken as questions. Let’s start with the liar index, “This sentence is false.” Allow this to be questioned: “Is this sentence ...
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Is determinism logically flawed?
If determinism is true, every event shall have a cause.
So, what is the cause of the first event (which is the first cause)?
Conflict (paradox):
1) every event shall have a cause -> First event/...
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The origin of a particular self-reference paradox
This is a simple reference request, for the origin of a particular type of paradoxical statement. The example I remember is
Roger Penrose can't consistently claim this statement to be true.
It's a ...
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Modal logics - philosophical paradoxes using modeling by possible worlds
I'm searching for "paradoxes" in classical modal logics, meaning lines of reasoning which give a counterintuitive conclusion if performed in classical logic, which can be modelled by the (semantical) ...
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Pragmatic encroachment: how is the basis for X being accurate different from the basis of when it is accurate to say someone knows that X is accurate?
When is it accurate to say that a person (P) knows that X is true/accurate?
This question seems to be answered by the idea/concept of 'Pragmatic Encroachment';
The basic idea/concept of 'Pragmatic ...
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Cause and Effect - Finished infinity [closed]
I have a question it's best if I give you an example right away.
Our universe has its limits. in terms of the effect or cause e.g. if we kill a human for some reason will also have the effect. I'm ...
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Is a paradox a concept?
Obviously 'paradox' is a concept, we name certain things to be so. We share the knowledge of those things through the use of language. But those things, "in themselves", those particular "instances of ...
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The paradox of comprehension
If it can be known it cannot be communicated.
Seemingly Gorgias held an ability to be communicated as intrinsic to the reality of a concept. And why not? Since for a solipsist there would be no ...
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Problematize and building a paradox over the repression drug use, its debates and issues
At the extraordinary session held from 19 to 21 April 2016, the UN General Assembly acknowledged the failure of the "war on drugs". I wanted to find a paradox to create a philosophical problem on the ...
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Can shapes be relative from different perspectives? [closed]
Can a material thing (being) have different shapes at the same time? I mean, can the sun be circular and quadratic at the same time? And can it be just as material.
To simplify the question. Can a ...
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Can two different objects at the same time be the same? [closed]
Can two things be different and yet the same at the same time?
For example, a chair (white) does not have one leg and another (black) has all of its legs. As in the question, these two things with ...
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Isn't the sorites paradox predicated on a non-understanding of what a heap is?
Under the assumption that removing a single grain does not turn a heap into a non-heap, the paradox is to consider what happens when the process is repeated enough times: is a single remaining grain ...
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A Problem With Kripke's Rule-Following Paradox Example?
It seems that there is a problem with the example that Saul Kripke gives in "Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language" to explain Wittgenstein's rule-following paradox. I'm not asking about the ...
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Is it possible that a question has only two answers?
□ yes □ no
"no" implies that a closed system with only two options like the one above is impossible. If you accept that such a system is possible by the way, it generates paradoxical results, since ...
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What are some true paradoxes in philosophy?
Some logical paradoxes are known to be invalid arguments, so I want to know what are some of the paradoxes based on valid logic in philosophy. So could you identify some of them?
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A difficulty I've had with this “This sentence is false” and Russell's Paradox [closed]
I'm not sure if I'm engaging in some sort of circular logical trap but I don't really think "this sentence is false" is all that logically problematic. But it would be helpful if someone could fix up ...
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Is there a natural example of a non-self-referential semantic paradox in philosophy?
A commonly studied paradox is the liar's paradox. The liar's paradox is to determine whether "this statement is false".
The usual resolution is to state this the sentence is not actually a statement ...
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If time is discrete, does moving means teleporting?
Please follow this thought experiment:
1) A ball moves one centimeter in one unit of time.
2) A ball disappears. Then, after a unit of time, it reappears one centimeter far away.
By now we don't ...
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Grandfather Paradox and Causal Loop
How does the grandfather paradox cause a causal loop (and therefore a bootstrap paradox)?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_paradox
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Is Ross' paradox really a paradox?
Consider the following disjunction introduction:
Your room is clean.
Therefore, your room is clean or your house is burnt down.
Ross' paradox allegedly arises when applying this inference to ...
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2answers
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free will without evil
If God is omnibenevolent and omnipotent could not we say God is capable of giving us free will without the existence of evil based on the same logic as Descartes described God's ability to lift an ...
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1answer
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What's wrong with the logic in the following ''paradox''?
The apparent paradox pertains to the homesteading principle. This isn't a question about the morality/immorality of homesteading, or ownership, or use, etc, just the logic behind it. The concept: ...
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Correcting a causal paradox via “simulating the cause?”
Firstly, this is a thought experiment -- I am aware that time is a "one way street."
I think this question may be inappropriate for the forum, so I would greatly appreciate a referral to a more ...
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unanswerable questions
Let me define "unanswerable question" as one that must use at least one term whose definition depends on the answer to the question.
Let me define "a ranking" as a sequence by which priority is ...
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1answer
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Does relationism resolve the Sorites paradox?
The ancient Sorites paradox,
1 grain of wheat does not make a heap. If 1 grain doesn’t make a heap,
then 2 grains don’t. If 2 grains don’t make a heap, then 3 grains
don’t. … If 999,999 grains ...
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Is there a solution of this time-travel enigma? [closed]
Mary is a supporter of free will. Thanks to a time machine, she travels five minutes into the future and finds out that she will quietly drink a coffee. She goes back and decides not to drink it, to ...
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Is there a theory about time traveling without paradox or multiple universes? [closed]
If you think about time travel you will quickly come to problems like the time paradox. In order to avoid a solution of the question about the paradox, the theory of multiple universes is used. Is ...
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1answer
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Paradoxical definition? [closed]
I recall reading once that the name of the numbers in the set {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9} is related to the number of angles people in antiquity used to trace while drawing them:
Does not it strike you as a ...
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1answer
128 views
Do Alexius Meinong's impossible worlds describe all impossible worlds/things? [duplicate]
Does his impossible worlds category include (and can describe) literally all impossible things/worlds?
Inconsistencies, paradoxes, impossible solutions to problems (and impossible problems); really ...
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2answers
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Is this a paradox about clairvoyance?
You play a game with a fortune teller. There are two cards with the face down on the table; he wins if you raises the card's suit he foresees, you win if his prediction turns out to be wrong. Suppose ...
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1answer
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What paradox/fallacy is this?
This is a striped down version of a thought prompted by am item in today's news. The scenario is fictional. I'm fairly sure that it is essentially some kind of paradox/fallacy, probably a well known ...
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Is a set containing itself already a paradox?
This is inspired by Russel's paradox stating there is not set of all sets. It uses the presupposition that set can contain itself. However, this already seems paradoxical.
Suppose a set A = {}. Then ...
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Understanding Curry's Paradox
I was trying to understand Curry's Paradox on wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry%27s_paradox
The example given is:
To produce Curry's paradox, as described in the two steps above, ...
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Is atheism about the existence of Deities or a personal perception of Sacredness?
Wikipedia on atheism:
Atheism is, in the broadest sense, the absence of belief in the existence of deities.
Now what about deities?
A deity is a supernatural being considered divine or sacred.
...
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1answer
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Half Full/Empty Paradox
The famous liar's paradox hinges on the word "false."
This sentence is false.
Now consider the famous example of a glass that can be perceived as either half full or half empty. Does that qualify ...
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How do mathematicians reconcile that an infinite set does not have to be larger than its proper subset?
If we imagine an infinite number of fractions and, within them, an infinite number of integers, doesn't the former constitute a "larger" infinite set of numbers?
This has always been paradoxical for ...
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Is a barber a barber if he doesn't get paid?
For reference: The Barber Paradox.
The Barber is he who shaves all those, and only those, who doesn't shave themselves.
Now the question is: Who shaves the Barber?
The paradox being that if ...
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Can you divide the natural numbers in half sequentially? [closed]
My brief stint on SE has been quite interesting because it forced me to make the premises of my inquiry more explicit. I resisted this initially simply for reasons of economy, but economy proved to be ...
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What logic does Fitch's paradox use?
So I have been looking into Modal Logic as well as epistemic logic (and its dynamic versions) with the hopes of studying their applications to Fitch's paradox.
Fitches paradox refers to the proof ...
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Is “Forever falling to the bottom” a paradox? [closed]
Writing an English paper that requires a paradox. Is the above a paradox?
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Does the uncertainty principle resolve Zeno’s arrow paradox?
Zeno’s arrow paradox says that motion is impossible. Does quantum mechanics say that the underlying assumption is wrong?
Assumption: in any given moment, an arrow in flight is motionless. Then it ...
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Is this really an omniscience vs free-will paradox?
Thought experiment: let there be an omniscient being who knows the future and an agent with free will. They are playing a simple game: there is a table with 2 cards and the free agent asks the ...
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Why does Newcomb's paradox seem to have different solutions depending on when the choice is made despite determinism?
I believe the Newcomb's paradox is a significant problem in philosophy, since I regard it as a well formulated version of the lazy argument (under certain conditions) with real life implications.
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Paradoxes and inconsistent set of sentences
Let's define logic as:
A statement and it's opposite, obtained by applying the "not" operator, both cannot be true. The not operator is applied to the part of the sentence describing action or ...
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Are paradoxes counterarguments?
Sometimes I hear examples of paradoxes, like The Grandfather Paradox: if you went back in time and killed your grandfather then you wouldn't have been born, so you couldn't go back to kill your ...
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Worldview hierarchy. Epistemology or ontology more fundamental?
When evaluating a worldview and checking for coherence, is one's ontology or epistemology a more fundamental building block? Could anything be more fundamental?
I ask because I heard a criticism ...
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Historical Knowledge Paradox, how do you characterize the epistemology of it?
I have become aware of what Yuval Noah Harari calls the "Historical Knowledge Paradox", in which the utility of knowing the past is placed in conflict with itself. Can somebody please help me to see ...
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How can the finite contain the infinite?
This article claims that all finite things are actually infinite, however it doesn't explain how this can possibly work only that it is the way the world really works. Numbers and lines are finite, ...
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How to construct a proposition about God (which is not a thing, nor a non-thing)?
I am reading a paper right now by Andrey V. Smirnov, published in the journal Philosophy East and West, Vol. 43, No. 1 titled Nicholas of Cusa and Ibn Arabi: Two Philosophies of Mysticism. Both ...
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Basic question regarding the “Liar Paradox”
I know that the Liar Paradox has been discussed a fair bit on here, but I have a question about it that seems a bit more fundamental. Perhaps it has been asked and answered here in more proper ...
