Greetings Dear Reader!
I recently met an old friend of mine. After conversing for some time, he asked me, "Have you stopped being mad?" After hearing the question I realized that I could not answer it. If I answer "Yes", it would mean that I used to be mad in the past. If I answer "No", it would mean that I continue being mad. Such examples lead us to a deeper mire of logical thinking.
Today I shall discuss about 'paradoxes'. Paradoxes are members of the family of Logical Thinking. A paradox starts with a given set of statements and through the application of rules of logic arrives at a situation wherein following either of the options "Yes/No" leads to contradiction with what was initially stated.
According to Wikipedia, "Paradox is a seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or preposition which when investigated may prove to be well founded or true."
A simple example of a paradox is given above. The text says to ignore it but you don't know what it says until you have read it.
“I can resist anything but temptation.” – Oscar Wilde
This famous quote by Oscar Wilde happens to be a paradox.
In the famous play of Shakespeare, Hamlet, the protagonist Hamlet says,
“I must be cruel to be kind.”
So the question is, why is paradox used when the message can be conveyed in a simple and straightforward manner? The answer is the purpose of literature. One function of literature is to make the readers enjoy what they read. Readers enjoy when they extract the hidden meaning out of the writing rather than something presented to them in an uncomplicated manner. Thus the chief purpose of paradox is to give pleasure.
If someone says "I always lie", are they telling the truth? Or are they lying?
The famous story of Pinocchio has it's own version of paradox ;)
The paradoxes that follow should give your brains a good tease.
- I am nobody.
- Truth is honey which is bitter.
- Child is father of the man.
- Don't go near the water until you have learned how to swim.
- Answer truthfully (yes/no) to the following question: Will the next word you say be 'no'?
These are, however, simple paradoxical sentences. There are real-time situations where paradoxes actually take place. Consider the following examples:
1.) The following is written on opposite sides of a card:
Back side:
THE SENTENCE WRITTEN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS CARD IS TRUE.
Front side:
THE SENTENCE WRITTEN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS CARD IS FALSE.
2.) Russel's paradox titled 'The Village Barber'
A village barber makes a rule that he will shave those and only those who do not shave themselves. The question is, does he shave himself?
Suppose he does. Then he belongs to the class of those who shave themselves. Such people are not serviced by the barber as per his rule. So he does not shave himself. Thus we have a contradiction.
If we assume the other alternative, namely the barber does not shave himself, then he belongs to the class whose members are served by the barber. Again we have a contradiction: we arrive at the conclusion that the barber shaves himself, starting from the exact opposite.
3.) The Witch's Curse
The famous duo Gilbert and Sullivan have written comic operas with funny plots and the one called Ruddigore illustrates another paradox.
A baronet ruling a region was a good person except that every evening he would commit a crime. Puzzled at his odd behaviour, a young man (and a good logician) asked him the reason. The baronet replied that a witch had cursed his family saying that the Head of the family must commit a crime everyday, failing which he would die a painful death before the end of the day. That was the reason the baronet as the head of the family committed a criminal act everyday.
The young man thought over the matter and came back with the following solution of the baronet's problem. Said he: "Sir, I suggest that you deliberately refrain from the criminal act. Nothing will happen to you." The baronet was puzzled and asked why. The young man replied: "Sir, by not committing a crime you are inviting your death. This is like suicide and attempting suicide is a crime."
Paradoxes are vital in the field of Logical Thinking. Few interesting websites on the internet which will help you to explore the topic more are given below.
I would love to hear from you. Please provide your reviews/suggestions in the comments. For now, this is Vandit signing off until next time when I shall meet you again with an interesting story which proves to be the origin of an English word meaning 'a person who is overly self-involved'. Bye!
Sources:
Manorama Yearbook 2015
It's a fantastic post on paradoxes!! I Paradoxes interests me greatly. The stories posted are awesome.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I'm glad that you're liking the posts. Keep sharing the link! :) Thank you.
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ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
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