Paradoxes

This intriguing book is not only an explanation of paradoxes but also an excellent introduction to philosophical thinking.

R. M. Sainsbury (Author)

9780521896320, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 February 2009

190 pages
23.4 x 15.7 x 1.4 cm, 0.43 kg

'An engaging and accessible guide through some of the deepest conceptual labyrinths we know. Sainsbury encourages the reader to think with him, always asking questions and pointing out roads not taken. This is the first place I send students who have become puzzled by the liar paradox or the paradox of the heap.' John McFarlane, University of California, Berkeley

A paradox can be defined as an unacceptable conclusion derived by apparently acceptable reasoning from apparently acceptable premises. Many paradoxes raise serious philosophical problems, and they are associated with crises of thought and revolutionary advances. The expanded and revised third edition of this intriguing book considers a range of knotty paradoxes including Zeno's paradoxical claim that the runner can never overtake the tortoise, a new chapter on paradoxes about morals, paradoxes about belief, and hardest of all, paradoxes about truth. The discussion uses a minimum of technicality but also grapples with complicated and difficult considerations, and is accompanied by helpful questions designed to engage the reader with the arguments. The result is not only an explanation of paradoxes but also an excellent introduction to philosophical thinking.

Foreword to third edition
Introduction
Suggested reading
1. Zeno's paradoxes: space, time, and motion
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Space
1.3 The Racetrack
1.4 The Racetrack again
1.5 Achilles and the Tortoise
1.6 The Arrow
Suggested reading
2. Moral paradoxes
2.1 Crime reduction
2.2 Mixed blessings
2.3 Not being sorry
2.4 Moral dilemmas
Suggested reading
3. Vagueness: the paradox of the heap
3.1 Sorites paradoxes: preliminaries
3.2 Sorites paradoxes: some options
3.3 Accepting the conclusion: Unger's view
3.4 Rejecting the premises: the epistemic theory
3.5 Rejecting the premises: supervaluations
3.6 Rejecting the reasoning: degrees of truth
3.7 Vague objects?
Suggested reading
4. Acting rationally
4.1 Newcomb's paradox
4.2 The Prisoner's Dilemma
Suggested reading
5. Believing rationally
5.1 Paradoxes of confirmation
5.1.1 Background
5.1.2 The paradox of the Ravens
5.1.3 'Grue'
5.2 The Unexpected Examination
5.3 Revising the Unexpected Examination
5.4 The Knower
Suggested reading
6. Classes and truth
6.1 Russell's paradox
6.2 The Liar: semantic defects
6.3 Grounding and truth
6.4 The Strengthened Liar
6.5 Levels
6.6 Self-reference
6.7 Indexicality
6.8 Indexical circularity
6.9 Comparison: how similar are Russell's paradox and the Liar?
Suggested reading
7. Are any contradictions acceptable?
7.1 Contradictions entail everything
7.2 A sentence which is both true and false could have no intelligible content
7.3 Three dualities
7.4 Negation
7.5 Falsehood and untruth
Suggested reading
Appendix I. Some more paradoxes
Appendix II. Remarks on some text questions and appended paradoxes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Analytical philosophy & Logical Positivism [HPCF5]