Category: Philosophy
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Significant Paradoxes: Identity and Metaphysics
26 Ship of Theseus The Athenian hero’s ship has planks replaced over decades until none of the original timbers remain. Is it the same ship? If the original planks are reassembled elsewhere, which is authentic? The puzzle distinguishes numerical identity (being one and the same object) from qualitative similarity. Endurantists say the ship persists so…
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Significant Paradoxes: Space, Time, and Infinity
12 Zeno’s Dichotomy Zeno asks you to walk from point A to point B. First you must cover half the distance, then half of what remains, then half of that remainder, and so on. Because the sequence of steps is infinite, Zeno insists the journey cannot be completed. The puzzle trades on an intuitive link…
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Significant Paradoxes: Formal Logic
1 The Liar A single sentence—“This statement is false”—defies binary truth assignment. If it is true, then what it asserts must obtain: the statement is false. Yet if it is false, its content is not the case, which makes it true. The oscillation exposes a basic flaw in applying ordinary two-valued semantics to self-referential assertions.…