219 replies to this topic

[young egyptian brain]

He can't be saying the truth, because if he was (suposedly) saying it, it would mean that he is lying, it would be more a confession than a fact,,, whereas if he is lying it would mean that not all the cretans are liars, but that he is

[harpuzzler]

Just because he is a liar does not mean he cannot tell the truth. He could be stating a true fact that all Cretians are liars including himself.

[jayeshk]

he is actually lying beause actually when he is saying the sentence "HE ALWAYS LIES" he is telling the truth.....!!

[TheCrazyAwesome2]

If someone says "Everything I say is a lie", are they telling the truth? Or are they lying?

It can't be true cause it contradicts itself: 'everything I tell you is a lie' and hes telling the truth.

The reason it can be a lie is - If he's lieing about saying 'everything he says is a lie', it doesn't mean that everything he says is the truth. It just means that maybe half the things he says is a lie. So if he only lies about half of things, than saying he lies about everything would be a lie.

Im confusing myself.. hope it made sense lol.

[yunchov]

depends on top view, it is 2 system. Attacker (Crete) want defender (Greece) to become in state attacker want - him ready to faith for truth about Crete. That is fastest way attacker to attract defender power for his use.

in way that you are defender - answer is simple (trivial - that is lay) and not much addition information for you, but for attacker is much more.
on that paradox are based some divide and conquer strategies.

[HereICome]

Liar Paradox (Eubulid or Epimenides Paradox) - Back to the Paradoxes
This is a well known paradox written by the great stoical logician Chrysippos. The poet, grammarian and critic Philetus of Cos was said to have died of exhaustion attempting to resolve it.

1. A Cretan sails to Greece and says to some Greek men who are standing upon the shore: "All Cretans are liars." Did he speak the truth, or did he lie?
2. A week later, the Cretan sailed to Greece again and said: "All Cretans are liars and all I say is the truth." Although the Greeks on the shore weren't aware of what he had said the first time, they were truly puzzled.

If someone says "I always lie", are they telling the truth? Or are they lying?

Sentence 1 is an obvious paradox. But sentence 2 is not a paradox. My explanation:

Sentence 2 is "All Cretans are liars and all I say is the truth." I contains 2 statements- Statement p= All cretans are liars, statement q= all I say is the truth. Since statement 'p' and 'q' are joined with 'and' co statement 2 is true only if both the statements 'p' and 'q' are true. In all other case it is false.
Truth table:
Statement 'p' Statement 'q' Statement '2'
True.................True.................True
True.................False.................False
False.................True.................False
False.................False.................False
Here take the case where statement p is true and statement q is false. Since staement q is false so the speaker(cretan) is a liar. statement q is true, which again says cretans are liar. Overall statement 2 is false (since q is false), so it proves that he, a cretan, is a liar.
So I do not find any paradox in that.

Edited by HereICome, 17 June 2011 - 08:18 AM.

[MDShealy]

"I always lie...."

"Liar."

"But, wait, I was telling the tr– damn."


-Melanie D. Shealy

[lzzy_tom]

I would like to make this more simplicity :
" You told the God that human beings are liars --> Did you speak the truth or did you lie ? "

[0_o]

there is not a answer because the truth and the lie defy ea ch other indefinitly.

[Katiebug815]

He is saying that Cretans are liars. However, he is not saying that they lie all the time. if you lied all the time, you would probably be unemployed/homeless. E.G; your boss: complete this assignment by tomorrow.  I f you always lie, than you can either say"no" and get fired or say "yes Sir" and not be able to do it because you lied. And get fired. This is really more of a puzzle then a paradox. You just have to think.