Epimenides Paradox
The first notable self-refuting idea is the Epimenides paradox, a statement attributed to Epimenides, a Cretan philosopher, that "All Cretans are liars". If interpreted as meaning "no Cretan ever speaks the truth," this cannot be true if uttered by a Cretan.
A more common example is the self-refuting statement "I am lying" (because the first statement allows the possibility "some Cretans do not speak the truth," the speaker being one of them). The second statement has no third alternative—the speaker's statement is either true or false.
Read more about this topic: Self-refuting Idea, Examples
Famous quotes containing the word paradox:
“... it is the desert’s grimness, its stillness and isolation, that bring us back to love. Here we discover the paradox of the contemplative life, that the desert of solitude can be the school where we learn to love others.”
—Kathleen Norris (b. 1947)