Liar paradoxes are easy and fun to generate. Here is one that is fun: My latest belief, let us suppose, is that George's latest belief is false. And George's latest belief is that my latest belief is true. Who is right?
I once had a class that kept pestering me to give them a true/false test instead of a short answer test. So I gave them a true/false quiz of twenty questions or so that consisted almost entirely of complicated liar paradoxes. (I didn't count it for a grade; I'm not quite that evil.) I don't think I have that quiz anymore, which is too bad; it was a beautiful work of art.
Not to each other, of course. Man, that was a poorly executed joke.
Anyway, a neat way to do the liar paradox is to draw a box and write inside the box, "the sentence inside the box is not true." That's how my logic professor did it.
You can even generate liar paradoxes that aren't statements. For example:
"Is the answer to this question 'no'?"
If the answer to the question is "no", then the answer should also be "yes", and if the answer to the question is "yes", then the answer should also be "no". If we assume "bivalence" for yes-or-no questions, then its answer must be either "yes" or "no", and hence both "yes" and "no".
More information is needed, and I think it needs to be temporal.
ReplyDeleteI once had a class that kept pestering me to give them a true/false test instead of a short answer test. So I gave them a true/false quiz of twenty questions or so that consisted almost entirely of complicated liar paradoxes. (I didn't count it for a grade; I'm not quite that evil.) I don't think I have that quiz anymore, which is too bad; it was a beautiful work of art.
ReplyDeleteIf you're right, you're wrong. You and George must be married.
ReplyDeleteNot to each other, of course. Man, that was a poorly executed joke.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, a neat way to do the liar paradox is to draw a box and write inside the box, "the sentence inside the box is not true." That's how my logic professor did it.
Wouldn't it be better to draw a box and put a sentence that says, "This sentence is not inside a box?"
ReplyDelete"This sentence is not in a box" isn't actually paradoxical. It's just false.
ReplyDelete"Liar paradoxes are easy and fun to generate."
ReplyDeleteVery true. :-)
You can even generate liar paradoxes that aren't statements. For example:
"Is the answer to this question 'no'?"
If the answer to the question is "no", then the answer should also be "yes", and if the answer to the question is "yes", then the answer should also be "no". If we assume "bivalence" for yes-or-no questions, then its answer must be either "yes" or "no", and hence both "yes" and "no".