To this philosophy there are two ways of explaining, one the direct way and the other the Push-out-all-your-thoughts-that-do-not-make-sense-into-a-single-blog-prompt way.
So at first we will try the Push-out-all-your-thoughts-that-do-not-make-sense-into-a-single-blog-prompt way. (If you don't like meaningless explanations just skip this)
I am lying. True or False. Well, If I were to say it were true, then I would be lying as in that statement, I told the truth. But if I was in fact telling the truth, ignoring that fact, it means I am lying on that statement. But If I lied about me lying, I would be telling the truth which is contradictory as I am lying. So even if the statement is false that means I am telling the truth. But I cannot be telling the truth because I am lying. Which brings me to my next statement, about lies and truths If you are telling the truth about a truth you are telling the truth. If you are telling a lie about the lie you are telling the truth. So what does this say? If this statement is true its false and if it were false its true. So my final answer is... ah i forgot again. Never mind just move on.
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An better explanation
First for starters lets look and think about the statement. When you look at a lie maybe something like we call Cinda (first thing away from register 26) horrible nicknames everyday which is obviously a lie. So if you say true you are referring to us calling Cinda horrible nicknames everyday and if you say False you are also referring to us calling Cinda horrible nicknames everyday. But with the statement I am lying the only thing you can refer to is the fact that you are lying. Since it refers to itself, it is called self-referential. This is also part of the paradox. Now the mathematical way. Now since this statement only deals with true or false lets make true a + and false or lying a - . since the statement I am lying is a - you can see how it continues. In math a - times a - is a + and a + times a - or a -times a + is a -. In other words:
- X - = +
+ X - = -
- X + = -
So saying true to this statement results in a - times a + which is a -. But - means lying so what you put as a truth comes out as a lie.
On the other hand saying false to this statement results in a - times a - which is a +. But + means truth so what you put as a lie comes out as a truth.
Weird isnt it. This sentence is a contradiction, or a paradox, more referred to as the liar's paradox. It is difficult to actually understand it.
change of blogskin
16 years ago
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