Emergence As A Logical Contradiction
The logical inconsistency of a Cretan asserting all Cretans are always liars may not have occurred to Epimenides, nor to Callimachus, who both used the phrase to emphasize their point, without irony.
Later, in the 1st Century AD, the quote is given similar credence as it had in the past:
One of Crete's own prophets has said it: 'Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, idle bellies'.
He has surely told the truth. For this reason correct them sternly, that they may be sound in faith instead of paying attention to Jewish fables and to commandments of people who turn their backs on the truth.
— Epistle to Titus, 1:12–13
Nor does Clement of Alexandria, in the late 2nd Century AD, indicate that the concept of logical paradox is an issue:
In his epistle to Titus, Apostle Paul wants to warn Titus that Cretans don't believe in the one truth of Christianity, because "Cretans are always liars". To justify his claim, Apostle Paul cites Epimenides.
— Stromata 1.14
During the early 4th Century, Saint Augustine restates the closely related liar paradox in Against the Academicians (III.13.29), but without mentioning Epimenides.
In the Middle Ages, many forms of the liar paradox were studied under the heading of insolubilia, but these were not explicitly associated with Epimenides.
Finally, in 1740, the second volume of Pierre Bayle's Dictionnaire Historique et Critique explicitly connects Epimenides with the paradox, though Bayle labels the paradox a "sophisme".
Read more about this topic: Epimenides Paradox
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