There are 49 choices, 9 votes for ennoia's debate

Solve this paradox...

Here is a 2000 year old paradox, to which no one, as of yet, as provided a logically acceptable solution. Imagine this:

A traveller was walking one day when he met an old man sitting beside the road smoking a pipe. 'The first thing said to you by the first person you meet today will not be true,' said the old man. 'Trust me - don't believe what he says!' 'OK,' said the traveller. 'But hang on a minute: you're the first person I've met today.' 'Exactly!' said the old man.

Do you smell a fault?

Surely, if If the old man speaks the truth, then the first thing he says is not true. But if the first thing he says is not true, then the first thing he says is true. Concluding that what he says is both true and untrue! But surely reasoning, our most lucid tool as philosophers, cannot and does not allow for this!

So what's going on?

(Well, if you're not sure, you're not alone. This one actually killed off Philetas of Cos, who couldn't figure it out either, claiming;

"O Stranger: Philetas of Cos am I, 'Twas the Liar who made me die, And the bad nights caused thereby.")

Happy philosophizing...


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  • 2000 years
    2000 years!! are you sure someone didnt just misread it and copy it wrong??!
    Voted for by splodgey.
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  • Duhhhh...
    Since the old man 'spoke the truth', and then admitted that he was indeed the first one the other man had talked to, then the old man was lying about lying. So, indeed, the younger man was lied to after all.
    Voted for by Oral Fixation.
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  • Got my interest
    Can anyone tell me where to find more paradoxs such as this?
    Voted for by Socio-Sympathy.
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  • The first person the traveller met was himself
    Understanding another person 100% is impossible because ANY words cannot be Absolutely True. Words are based on interpretation. Thus when the traveller hears the words of the old man, he hears not the old man but the traveller's interpretation of the old man's words. There is separation between the old man and the traveller. The only words that are absolutely true is SILENCE. Hear the silence. Feel the silence. That is the only truth.
    Voted for by Brew Kline.
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  • Simple
    Although technically, a paradox doesn't really have a solution, it's a circle and circles don't have ends.

    However, in this situation, I would take his word for it and not trust a thing he says.
    Voted for by Red Death.
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  • to lie or not to lie???
    i think the whole thing is based on choice.
    The traveller has the choice to believe the man or not.he didnt have to talk or listen to the man but he chose to.(plus what was the man smoking? and was it all a dream?or was there no old man?because why was he there in the first place?)

    and it leads me into thinking:
    "you can always trust a dishonest person to be dishonest because they will always be dishonest, honestly".?!?!?
    Voted for by night sky mystery.
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  • Riddle
    Rather than say anything about that nice little paradox, which shows flaws in language more than anything (though I am a fan of football fan's decisions that the old man is on drugs, I bet he could barely keep a straight face!) I will simply give a riddle, it's not too hard but it relates to the above.

    You reach a divergent road. At the end of each path is a door; one leading to heaven, one to hell. There are two wizened old men standing between the doors; one of whom tells only lies, the other only truths. Keeping in mind that you are in ignorance as to which of the men is which, what ONE question would you ask of either ONE of them that would guarantee your passage to Heaven.

    There are two answers I will accept, happy riddling.

    A. H.
    Voted for by Alexander Hine.
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  • <>
    As the old man was on his own...He was bored. And when he met the traveler he simply made up a quirky thing to start a conversation, unexpectedly the traveler replies ruining the old man's Ice Breaker....The old man realizes how stupid he has been and responds much like how children today say "Ya Mum!" with Exactly! The old man is no genius just unintentionally made a paradox.

    It is like A=B B>A...Impossible instead of trying to solve it use common sense and see that the second A in A=B>A is actually a C.

    Meh. Would the old man shouted exactly if the traveler had said the first person he met was someone telling him that breakfast was ready? Then going down stairs to find that breakfast was ready.
    Voted for by Silhouette93.
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  • Ummm
    It's a paradox. It's not meant to make sense. No matter how much you tear it up, you're still not going to have an answer. It will always be a paradox. Good job.
    Voted for by scarlet screams.
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