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Paradoxes | The Philosophy Student

In 2002, I learnt about paradoxes.

This is content from a book called, Vicious Circles & Infinity – An Anthology of Paradoxes by Patrick Hughes & George Brecht.

To start off, they explain that there are self-referential propositions, contradictory propositions, self-contradiction propositions which are not paradoxes & other forms of self-reference & contradiction of a “stronger” kind which approach the paradoxical state.

Example of a Self-Referential Proposition =

This sentence has five words.

Example of a Contradictory Proposition =

Round square.

Example of a Self-Contradiction Proposition =

This sentence has six words.

Here’s an example of the Self-referential & Contradiction that heads toward a paradox =

Please ignore this notice.

So, to do what this notice says, you mustn’t have done it.

However paradoxical, this one isn’t a paradox. A paradox has the self-reference and contradiction but it also contains a third factor = vicious circularity.

‘Please ignore this notice,’ goes round, but it doesn’t continue going round.

Other examples of this kind of paradoxical propositions are =

All rules have exceptions.

In principle, I am against principles – Tristan Tzara

No general proposition is worth a damn! – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Never say never.

Check this out =

How can a witness reply to a lawyer who says = “Please answer yes or no to the following question: will the next word you speak be ‘no’?

If he answers ‘yes’ – it contradicts it.

If he answers ‘no’ – it contradicts it.

Other examples of this kind of ‘not quite paradoxes’ =

All generalisations are dangerous, even this one. – Dumas Fils

It is forbidden to forbid.

FULL PARADOX =

The Barber of Melbourne:

A man of Melbourne, Australia is shaved by the barber of Melbourne if & only if the man does not shave himself.

Does the barber of Melbourne shave himself?

If he does, he doesn’t & if he doesn’t, he does.

I’ll leave you with this =

The Liar Paradox:

Eubulides, an ancient Greek philosopher invented the liar paradox.

A Cretan says, “All Cretans are liars.”

If he is telling the truth, he is lying.

If he is lying, he is telling the truth…

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Infinite Dimensions | The Philosophy Student

I had a dream this morning that has altered my way of thinking. I am usually agnostic when it comes to God, switching from theism to atheism according to the latest observation. Having said that, I believe that this dream came about to let me know for sure, that God does exist.

I don’t remember much of the dream, but it seemed that throughout it, various different types of people appeared before me, conducting certain ‘moral tests’. I reacted to what they had to say, and I don’t know if I passed all of these tests, but the dream continued to move forward.

Then, at some point, everything went dark and black as if existence ceased to be. Immediately after this, I heard a voice say something like, ‘Let there be Creation’ and so things started to exist once again. I then said out loud, ‘There is a God!’ and suddenly, I was inside a geometrical ‘sphere’ of some kind. I said, ‘It’s Sacred Geometry’ referring to this structure as I moved the different sections of the sphere until I exited it.

As I got out of the sphere, I found myself falling out of the sky from a tremendous height. Not only that, but I could see the Earth below me, it was round and looked just like how NASA shows it, with the right colours and all. I heard the first couple of seconds of The X Files theme song and I knew this was God’s doing. There was daylight, I could see the Sun shining brightly and although initially I was afraid, I settled with it and fell toward the Earth in peace. When I got close to the ground, I got scared again as I was about to land on a hard surface. Then a voice guided me to land onto some water. I landed on the water and I was fine. The rest I don’t really remember either, but shortly after, I woke up.

There was more to this dream, but I don’t recall it in details, only fragments. I believe that someone said that I ‘had gone to the end of the world searching for God. That when I found Him, I made sure to let myself know that God exists by travelling back in Time to let my younger self know’.

So, what does this all mean?

Perhaps it is God who creates our dreams and communicates with us through them. I don’t think it’s the subconscious but rather, different dimensions. So, every time we go to sleep, we automatically plug into these dimensions. Sometimes, we enter lower dimensions, when we experience bad dreams and nightmares, other times, we proceed into higher dimensions, where everything seems bright, clear, and optimistic.

I feel like I can believe in God once more, but I know that at some point, I’ll question this belief again. This means that I must persevere, as I also know from experience that when I have lost faith in God, God often shows up, so I know that God will let Himself be known when necessary. What I need to do now is believe that a moral authority does exist, even though it may seem like there isn’t anyone in charge of cosmic justice. God may seem absent from reality, but God is present in the infinite dimensions of dreams.

The World of Forms | The Philosophy Student

a posteriori and a priori | The Philosophy Student

So, what is the difference between the terms a posteriori and a priori?

a posteriori: after experience.

a priori: independent of experience.

a posteriori knowledge depends on a justification of experience, to that which is contigent.

Example: a posteriori knowledge is that Canberra is the national capital city of Australia, or that your PC is on your desk.

a priori knowledge is that which is necessary and independent of experience.

Example: 2 + 2 = 4 or knowing that all bachelors are unmarried men.

Having said this, American philosopher Saul Kripke, argued that there are contigent truths that can be known a priori, as well as, necessary truths that are only discovered a posteriori.

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