Ariston, who is an Athenian, says: ”All Athenians always lie” Is he lying or telling the truth? Or “A barber shaves all men in his small town who don’t shave themselves. Is he shaving himself?” “What happens when an Unstoppable Force meets an Unmovable Object?” “Can the almighty God create a stone so large God himself won’t be able to lift it?” “This sentence written here is false”. The Ancient Greeks, gifted as they were, could not resolve these and similar paradoxes. Today, there are several adequate explanations. The simplest and easiest to understand is that the above sentences, though they appear to be valid, are in reality semantic gibberish. For example, in the Universe of Discourse where there exists such a thing as an Unstoppable Force, by definition cannot exist such thing as an Unmovable Object. But, we can do better! “Can the almighty God create a stone so large God himself won’t be able to lift it?” >>To Oliver Stone’s dog, Oliver Stone is God! “This sentence written here is false”. >>If a tree falls in the forest, is the Greenpeace activist telling the truth? “A barber shaves all men in his small town who don’t shave themselves. Is he shaving himself?” >>Emperor Tiberius to the Barber of Seville on the subject of Roman taxpayers: “I want my sheep shorn, not shaved!” Ariston, who is an Athenian, says: ”All Athenians always lie” >>(NSFW) Athenians who prefer the Greek style don’t necessarily have to lie (down) “What happens when an Unstoppable Force meets an Unmovable Object?” >>’May the Horse be with you’ said Obi-Wan when Princess Leia remained unmoved by his advances. Any other good paradoxes anyone knows?
None come to mind, just dropping by to say I really like the barber one! I've heard it used as an example of our semantic system's limitations: calling him a barber implies he's a barber all the time and that it's his primary and constant attribute, above man, husband, father, brother, homeowner, hunter, taxpayer etc. no matter what activity he's currently undertaking. So one solution is that he is sometimes a barber and sometimes not. The title is dependent on practical application. He is a barber when he shaves others, but not when he shaves himself.
