A Pair of Paradoxes: The Paradox Box and the Half true/All true paradox
By well-wisher
Mon, 06 Mar 2017
- 320 reads
Paradox 1: The Paradox Box
Infront of you, you have a cardboard box and, stuck upon the side of the box is a label which reads:
"This statement is false and if this statement is false then this box is empty".
Question: Is the box empty or not?
Well, if the label is to be believed then,
the statement is false and if the statement is false then the box is empty.
But if the label is to be believed then the statement isn't false and so the box shouldn't be empty.
However, lets say the statement is false, if so, then the opposite of what it says should be true and so, if it is true then the box should actually be empty.
But, if it is false, it is not true so the box should not be empty.
Infront of you, you have a cardboard box and, stuck upon the side of the box is a label which reads:
"This statement is false and if this statement is false then this box is empty".
Question: Is the box empty or not?
Well, if the label is to be believed then,
the statement is false and if the statement is false then the box is empty.
But if the label is to be believed then the statement isn't false and so the box shouldn't be empty.
However, lets say the statement is false, if so, then the opposite of what it says should be true and so, if it is true then the box should actually be empty.
But, if it is false, it is not true so the box should not be empty.
Paradox 2: The half true/all true paradox
"This statement is half true and all true" is a paradox
Why?
If it is all true then everything within the statement must be true including the fact that it is half true.
If that part is not true then it is not all true but only half true but if it is half true then that part is true so it is all true
But if it is all true then it can't be half true so it is only half true which means it is all true
Why?
If it is all true then everything within the statement must be true including the fact that it is half true.
If that part is not true then it is not all true but only half true but if it is half true then that part is true so it is all true
But if it is all true then it can't be half true so it is only half true which means it is all true
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