Are perhaps most paradoxes just fallacious in and of themselves?
I have a book of paradoxes, and most of them to me don’t seem like paradoxes after much study such as a heap of grain. There is no set amount of a heap of grain, but when broken down a heap of grain can soon be one grain, thus says the paradox. However, a heap is nothing more than saying I have a handful, a heap could be anything that shapes in a pyramid. Also, you have the placebo paradox, a pill will make you better because you believe it will make you better, however it can’t make you better just because you simply believe it will having that knowledge. That’s called a paradox, but here again I just don’t see it.
I’m not saying there are no true paradoxes, but shouldn’t we consider that the reason we can’t find complete answers to them is because they don’t make sense in the first place. Such as asking a loaded question like, does your mother know your stupid?
Sort of. They usually are something written “incorrectly”, and then appear to be correctly written, and lead to a contradiction. So, they are in a way, intentionally confusing, and often, absurd. Here is a good and less good example.
The liars paradox:
“This statement is false.”
that forces us humans to understand systems and incompleteness, and properly solve whether this is true or false or whether T/F apply to all elements in a system. Very useful paradox IMO.
Suppose the knowability principle (KP), more carefully, all truths are knowable by somebody at some time:
And suppose that we are non-omniscient, that there is an unknown truth
…
The ally of the view that all truths are knowable by somebody is forced absurdly to admit that every truth is known by somebody.
As written, the conclusion is fine, the answer is only absurd because the framing and premises are absurd, I think a high school student good at math should be able to see the absurdity if they have it explained to them without all the logical proof.
As for the paradoxes of vague predicates, such as Sorites paradox, it can be argued whether they are paradoxal or not. Does logic work with vague concepts?
My personal favorite is by letting someone buy alcohol the day before their 21st birthday, is logically the samething as letting a six year old buy booze.
And for the placebo paradox, I don’t know if paradox is the right word for it, but what else can you call it? It does fit the definition, as intution would say that the pill would cure us in both scenerios…
I think maybe your defenition or paradoxes is too narrow.
there is a difference between a paradox and a simulacrum. of course a simulacrum is sort of a paradox, so i guess the point is moot. i will go hang my head in shame now.
Likewise- Assuming an argument legitamete because it seems to be a nonparadox is equally irrational.
Consider this phrase: “An unused weapon is a useless weapon.” It is justifying the uselessness of dormant weaponry because it identifies the similarity between phrases. They lack paradox. But they are truly two different concepts and after some analysis the phrase can be understood as clearly bogus.
I wonder if there’s a new fallacy or set of fallacies to invent on this matter? Scope out the taxonomy of fallacies and see if this might fit. If not, why not email the author and consider some development?
yes, that’s why i recommend looking at paradoxes, and figuring them out, i.e. why they seem to be paradoxes, in order to improve your episteme. they’re just tricks to trick your mind into thinking two contradictory truths exist at the same time. and if you don’t see why something is a paradox, then you’re just not afflicted by the lack of intelligence or lack of advancement that others are who might be tricked.
(or, in some rare cases, you’re just not intelligent enough to see why it should seem like a paradox, but i think that’s not what we’re dealing with here.)
although maybe there are real paradoxes, i’d say they have to do with spirituality and metaphysics , of course, even those may merely be paradoxes because the best/only way for the human mind to grasp those truths is to believe contradictory things.
