On 9/13/2013 2:37 AM, Telmo Menezes wrote:
On Fri, Sep 13, 2013 at 2:28 AM, meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net> wrote:
On 9/12/2013 2:33 AM, Telmo Menezes wrote:
Time for some philosophy then :)
Here's a paradox that's making me lose sleep:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexpected_hanging_paradox
Probably many of you already know about it.
What mostly bothers me is the epistemological crisis that this
introduces. I cannot find a problem with the reasoning, but it's
clearly false. So I know that I don't know why this reasoning is
false. Now, how can I know if there are other types of reasoning that
I don't even know that I don't know that they are correct?
The wiki article gives most resolutions of the antinomy. The logical
contradiction is seen most clearly in case of the man who says to his wife,
"Here's your anniversary present. You'll be completely surprised by what it
is when you open it. It's diamond earrings." So, does the wife reason that
she'll be surprised, yet he's said it's diamond earrings; so it can't be
diamond earrings because then she wouldn't be surprised. Then she opens the
box and it's diamond earrings AND she's surprised.
I don't think this is equivalent because in your scenario the
statement is necessarily a lie. Either the wife will not be surprised
or the present is not diamond earrings.
No it's not. The husband is telling the truth and his statement is verified by the
events: His wife is surprised and it is diamond earrings.
In the unexpected hanging
scenario, the judge is not lying. It is clearly possible for the
prisoner to get a knock at his door Monday or maybe Wednesday and be
surprised. The judge did not lie, but the reasoning seems to indicate
that the surprise is impossible. I think there's something deeper
going on here.
No, the judge makes a set of self contradictory statements, just like the husband, when he
tells the prisoner he won't know beforehand which day he will hang. The prisoner reasons
then that he can't be hanged at all, which is a contradiction of the judges statement that
he will be hanged. So it's a little more roundabout, but it's just like the anniversary gift.
Brent
Telmo.
It just shows that if you reason from contradictory statements you can
arrive at any conclusion.
Brent
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Everything List" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Everything List" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
