Argument
Epimenides paradox
Overview
The so-called Epimenides paradox has to do with self-reference in logic. It is named after the Cretan philosopher Epimenides of Knossos (alive circa 600 BC) who said: "Cretans, liars always, evil beasts, idle bellies". A typical description of the problem (but with an inaccurate quote) is given in the book Gödel, Escher, Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter:
Epimenides was a Cretan who made the immortal statement: "All Cretans are liars."
It is often claimed that a paradox of self-reference arises when one considers whether it is possible for Epimenides to have spoken the truth, but in fact there is no paradox because it may simply be a false statement.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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Such propositions as the above are trivial, and would never be enunciated in real life except by an orator preparing the way for a piece of sophistry. They are called 'analytic' because the predicate is obtained by merely analysing the subject. Before the time of Kant it was thought that all judgements of which we could be certain _a priori_ were of this kind: that in all of them there was a predicate which was only…
Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy
States what Epimenides paradox is; the author is tied to Epimenides paradox in the knowledge graph.
Ut enim Epicurus veretur ne si hoc concesserit, concedendum sit, fato fieri quaecunque fiant; si enim alterum ex aeternitate verum sit, esse id etiam certum; si certum, etiam necessarium; ita et necessitatem et fatum confirmari putat; sic Chrysippus metuit ne non, si non obtinuerit omne[230] quod enuncietur aut verum esse aut falsum, omnia fato fieri possint ex causis aeternis rerum futurarum.' M. Bayle observes…
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Theodicy Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil
States what Epimenides paradox is.
He invented four arguments, all immeasurably subtle and profound, to prove that motion is impossible, that Achilles can never overtake the tortoise, and that an arrow in flight is really at rest. After being refuted by Aristotle, and by every subsequent philosopher from that day to our own, these arguments were reinstated, and made the basis of a mathematical renaissance, by a German professor, who probably never…
Bertrand Russell, Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays
The author is tied to Epimenides paradox in the knowledge graph.
Philosophers who discussed Epimenides paradox
Related ideas
- Homer
- Philosophy
- Liar paradox
- Middle Ages
- Augustine of Hippo
- Odyssey
- Paradox
- Self-reference
- Pierre Bayle
- Zeus
- Bertrand Russell
- Russell's paradox
- Logic
- Gödel, Escher, Bach
- Syriac language
- Simone de Beauvoir
- Crete
- The Second Sex
- Clement of Alexandria
- Epimenides
- Douglas Hofstadter
- Callimachus