Sunday, December 6, 2015

Truth, Language and Paradox

I said in my haste, All men are liars. (Psalm 116:11 KJV)

Sometimes languages cannot express truth very well and lead to paradoxes. Statements like "I am lying" is both true and false at the same time. This is the liar paradox.

A true self-reference statement is always true, but a false self-referencing statement becomes a paradox. "I am a truth teller" is always true, but "I am a liar" becomes false if the statement is true.

No comments: