http://hull-awe.org.uk/index.php?title=Paradox&feed=atom&action=historyParadox - Revision history2024-03-29T04:57:27ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.23.2http://hull-awe.org.uk/index.php?title=Paradox&diff=67898&oldid=prevPeterWilson at 19:49, 26 November 20172017-11-26T19:49:41Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Other '''paradoxes''' call for yet another type of response. Consider ‘The Child is father of the Man’ (a line from the poem ''My Heart Leaps Up'', by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)). Since children cannot be fathers, let alone fathers of adults, the line states, or appears to state, a '''paradox'''. However, Wordsworth clearly intends ‘father’ to be understood not literally, but metaphorically: what he means is that our experiences as children form our characters as adults. Hence the '''paradox''' can be removed by paraphrase or 'translation'. Indeed it may be argued that while Wordsworth’s line is undeniably '''paradoxical''', it does not actually state a '''paradox''', but merely appears to state one.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Other '''paradoxes''' call for yet another type of response. Consider ‘The Child is father of the Man’ (a line from the poem ''My Heart Leaps Up'', by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)). Since children cannot be fathers, let alone fathers of adults, the line states, or appears to state, a '''paradox'''. However, Wordsworth clearly intends ‘father’ to be understood not literally, but metaphorically: what he means is that our experiences as children form our characters as adults. Hence the '''paradox''' can be removed by paraphrase or 'translation'. Indeed it may be argued that while Wordsworth’s line is undeniably '''paradoxical''', it does not actually state a '''paradox''', but merely appears to state one.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>'''''Historical''' '''note''''': In earlier centuries the word '''paradox''' was often used of an idea that was (merely) hard to believe or went against the orthodox view. In 1616, e.g., a '''paradox''' was defined as: "an opinion maintained contrary to the common allowed opinion, as if one [were to] affirm that the earth doth move round, and the heavens stand still." (William Bullokar, cited in [[OED]]; spelling modernised for AWE.)</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">::</ins>'''''Historical''' '''note''''': In earlier centuries the word '''paradox''' was often used of an idea that was (merely) hard to believe or went against the orthodox view. In 1616, e.g., a '''paradox''' was defined as: "an opinion maintained contrary to the common allowed opinion, as if one [were to] affirm that the earth doth move round, and the heavens stand still." (William Bullokar, cited in [[OED]]; spelling modernised for AWE.)</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>   </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>   </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>On the difference between '''paradox''' and '''oxymoron''' see [[oxymoron]].</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">::::</ins>On the difference between '''paradox''' and '''oxymoron''' see [[oxymoron]].</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[category:figures]] [[category:Etymology]] [[category:Figures of Speech course]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[category:figures]] [[category:Etymology]] [[category:Figures of Speech course]]</div></td></tr>
</table>PeterWilsonhttp://hull-awe.org.uk/index.php?title=Paradox&diff=67562&oldid=prevDavidWalker at 15:01, 13 October 20172017-10-13T15:01:59Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>{{fos-mean}}</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>{{fos-mean}}</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>'''<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Paradox</del>''' is <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">the linking of two apparently contradictory ideas.  (If we are more concerned with the words than the ideas </del>which <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">they express</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">we call it oxymoron.)  Wordsworth</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">for example</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">wrote “The Child </del>is <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">father of the Manâ€</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">although </del>the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">normal literal use </del>of <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">words insists that a child’s father </del>is a <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">man; but of course there is a real meaning intended.  (Our adult selves are formed by our childhood lives</del>.<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">)</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">A </ins>'''<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">paradox</ins>''' is <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">a proposition </ins>which <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">is</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">or seems</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">absurd or impossible but which nonetheless seems to be</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">or </ins>is, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">true because it is </ins>the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">conclusion </ins>of <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">what seems to be, or </ins>is<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">, </ins>a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">sound argument</ins>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>'''<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Paradox</del>''' <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">and [[oxymoron]] can be hard to distinguish.  As </del>a <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">rule </del>of <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">thumb</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">I would suggest that when </del>a <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">writer is deliberately trying </del>to <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">make an effect by contrast</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">it is an </del>'''<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">oxymoron</del>'''<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">; but if </del>a <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">contradiction exists in real life to </del>which <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">the writer </del>is <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">drawing attention</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">then it should be called </del>a '''paradox'''<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">.  This is not</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">of course</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">true where a writer deliberately chooses </del>to <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">make paradoxes</del>, and <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">calls them by that name</del>.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Thus </ins>'''<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">paradox</ins>''' <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">always involves </ins>a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">conflict between two propositions, one </ins>of <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">them a ‘common sense’ proposition</ins>, a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">proposition which we all intuitively ‘know’ </ins>to <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">be true</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">and the other, the </ins>'''<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">paradoxical</ins>''' <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">proposition, </ins>a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">proposition </ins>which is <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">supported by ‘theoretical’ considerations</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">e.g., is the conclusion of </ins>a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">philosophical argument. The word </ins>'''paradox''' <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">comes from the Greek παράδοξος (''paradoxos'') ‘contrary to expectation’</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">an [[adjective]] formed from the [[preposition]]al phrase παρὰ δόξαν (''para doxan'')</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">‘contrary </ins>to <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">expectation</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">opinion, or belief’; </ins>and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">this [[etymology]] is reflected in our use of the word: confronted with a '''paradox''', we are surprised because what we have always unthinkingly assumed to be true is brought into question</ins>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">(In older times, </del>'''paradox''' <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">often meant an idea </del>that <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">was hard </del>to <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">believe</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">or </del>that <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">went against </del>the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">orthodox view</del>. <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"> In 1616</del>, it <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">was defined as: "an opinion maintained contrary </del>to the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">common allowed opinion</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">as </del>if <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">one affirm </del>that the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">earth doth move round</del>, and the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">heavens stand still</del>.<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">" </del>(<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Bullokar</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">cited in </del>''<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[OED]]</del>''<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">; spelling modernised for AWE</del>.<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">))</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">A clear example of a </ins>'''paradox''' <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">is </ins>that <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">of '''Achilles and the Tortoise''', one of several paradoxes devised by the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea (c490-c430 BCE). The purpose of the '''paradox''' is </ins>to <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">show that ‘the slowest runner will never be caught by the fastest runner’ (Aristotle</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">''Physics'' Z 9, 239b14). Zeno holds </ins>that <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">if, in a race between Achilles and a tortoise the latter is given a start, it is impossible for Achilles to draw level with it, let alone overtake it and win </ins>the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">race</ins>. <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">His argument is that if Achilles is to draw level with the tortoise</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">he must first reach the point at which the tortoise started, but in the time </ins>it <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">takes him </ins>to <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">do that, </ins>the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">tortoise will have moved on a little, and so he will then have to reach that point, but in the time he needs to reach that point the tortoise will again have moved on</ins>, if <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">only a little, and in the time it takes him to reach </ins>that <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">point, </ins>the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">tortoise will again have moved on, ,,,</ins>, and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">so on ''ad'' ''infinitum''. If Achilles is to draw level with </ins>the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">tortoise he must complete an infinite series of tasks, which is impossible</ins>. <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">He may draw closer and closer to the tortoise but can never reach it, let alone overtake it </ins>(<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Aristotle</ins>, ''<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Physics</ins>'' <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Z 9, 239b14-29)</ins>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[category:figures]] [[category:Figures of Speech course]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Clearly our response to this '''paradox''' will be to insist that our ‘commonsense’ belief that Achilles can draw level with the tortoise and win the race is true, and that Zeno’s argument which claims to prove otherwise must be flawed, difficult though it may be to identify the flaw. (Incidentally, philosophers still dispute what the flaw is.) Our response to other '''paradoxes''', however, may be different. Consider, for example, the '''Liar Paradox'''.</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div> </div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">There are several different forms of the '''Liar Paradox''', which was devised by the Greek philosopher Eubulides (4th century BCE). The '''paradox''' challenges our ‘commonsense’ assumptions that every statement must be either true or false and that no statement can be both true and false. In its simplest form it asks us to consider the statement ‘What I am saying now is false’ (let us call this statement S). If S is true, then ‘What I am saying now is false" is true. So S must be false. In other words the assumption that S is true leads to the contradictory conclusion that S is false. On the other hand if S is false, then "What I am saying now is false" is false. Therefore, S must be true. In other words the assumption that S is false also leads to a contradictory conclusion. Either way, S is, it seems, both true and false, which is a '''paradox'''.</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"> </ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">A possible response to this '''paradox''' is to deny our ‘commonsense’ assumption that every statement must be either true or false: perhaps some statements, e.g., certain statements which refer to themselves, lack a truth value, i.e., are neither true nor false. This would deprive the argument which generates the '''paradox''' of one of its basic assumptions.</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div> </div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Other '''paradoxes''' call for yet another type of response. Consider ‘The Child is father of the Man’ (a line from the poem ''My Heart Leaps Up'', by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)). Since children cannot be fathers, let alone fathers of adults, the line states, or appears to state, a '''paradox'''. However, Wordsworth clearly intends ‘father’ to be understood not literally, but metaphorically: what he means is that our experiences as children form our characters as adults. Hence the '''paradox''' can be removed by paraphrase or 'translation'. Indeed it may be argued that while Wordsworth’s line is undeniably '''paradoxical''', it does not actually state a '''paradox''', but merely appears to state one.</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div> </div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">'''''Historical''' '''note''''': In earlier centuries the word '''paradox''' was often used of an idea that was (merely) hard to believe or went against the orthodox view. In 1616, e.g., a '''paradox''' was defined as: "an opinion maintained contrary to the common allowed opinion, as if one [were to] affirm that the earth doth move round, and the heavens stand still." (William Bullokar, cited in [[OED]]; spelling modernised for AWE.)</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"> </ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">On the difference between '''paradox''' and '''oxymoron''' see [[oxymoron]].</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div> </div></td></tr>
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</table>DavidWalkerhttp://hull-awe.org.uk/index.php?title=Paradox&diff=10053&oldid=prevJoachimNoreiko at 16:42, 5 July 20072007-07-05T16:42:14Z<p></p>
<table class='diff diff-contentalign-left'>
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<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 16:42, 5 July 2007</td>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">''(This page forms part of a Course in Figures of Speech.  You can find an introduction to it at [[Figures of Speech course]].  </del>'''Paradox'''<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">, however, </del>is <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">less </del>of <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">a [[Figures of speech|Figure of speech]] </del>than <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">a nobsvation about </del>the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">strange nature of life</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">and the phenomena </del>it <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">shows us</del>.  <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">You may have accessed this page from another page on a particular </del>example, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">or by </del>a <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">direct search</del>.)<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">'' </del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">{{fos-mean}}</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>'''Paradox''' is <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">the linking </ins>of <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">two apparently contradictory ideas.  (If we are more concerned with the words </ins>than the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">ideas which they express</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">we call </ins>it <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">oxymoron</ins>.<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">) </ins> <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Wordsworth, for </ins>example, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">wrote “The Child is father of the Manâ€, although the normal literal use of words insists that a child’s father is </ins>a <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">man; but of course there is a real meaning intended.  (Our adult selves are formed by our childhood lives</ins>.)</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">'''Paradox''' and [[oxymoron]] can be hard to distinguish.  As a rule of thumb, I would suggest that when a writer is deliberately trying to make an effect by contrast, it is an '''oxymoron'''; but if a contradiction exists in real life to which the writer is drawing attention, then it should be called a '''paradox'''.  This is not, of course, true where a writer deliberately chooses to make paradoxes, and calls them by that name.</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Paradox is the linking of two apparently contradictory ideas.  </del>(<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">If we are more concerned with the words than the ideas which they express</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">we call it oxymoron.)  Wordsworth, for example, wrote “The Child is father of the Manâ€, although the normal literal use of words insists that a child’s father is a man; but of course there is a real meaning intended.  (Our adult selves are formed by our childhood lives.)</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>(<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">In older times</ins>, '''<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">paradox</ins>''' <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">often meant an idea that was </ins>hard to <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">believe, or that went against the orthodox view</ins>.  <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">In 1616</ins>, it <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">was defined as: "</ins>an <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">opinion maintained contrary </ins>to the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">common allowed opinion</ins>, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">as if one affirm that the earth doth move round, and the heavens stand still." (Bullokar, cited in </ins>''<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[OED]]</ins>''<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">; spelling modernised for AWE</ins>.<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">))</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div> </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>'''<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Paradox</del>''' <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">and [[oxymoron]] can be </del>hard to <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">distinguish</del>.  <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">As a rule of thumb, I would suggest that when a writer is deliberately trying to make an effect by contrast</del>, it <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">is </del>an <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">'''oxymoron'''; but if a contradiction exists in real life </del>to <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">which </del>the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">writer is drawing attention</del>, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">then it should be called a </del>''<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">'paradox'</del>''. <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"> This is not, of course, true where a writer deliberately chooses to make paradoxes, and calls them by that name.</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">(In older times, '''paradox''' often meant an idea that was hard to believe, or that went against the orthodox view.  In 1616, it was defined as: "an opinion maintained contrary to the common allowed opinion, as if one affirm that the earth doth move round, and the heavens stand still." (Bullokar, cited in ''OED''; spelling modernised for AWE.))</del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[category:figures]] [[category:Figures of Speech course]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[category:figures]] [[category:Figures of Speech course]]</div></td></tr>
</table>JoachimNoreikohttp://hull-awe.org.uk/index.php?title=Paradox&diff=2693&oldid=prevPeterWilson at 23:20, 28 November 20062006-11-28T23:20:21Z<p></p>
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<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">← Older revision</td>
<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 23:20, 28 November 2006</td>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Paradox is the linking of two apparently contradictory ideas.  (If we are more concerned with the words than the ideas which they express, we call it oxymoron.)  Wordsworth, for example, wrote “The Child is father of the Manâ€, although the normal literal use of words insists that a child’s father is a man; but of course there is a real meaning intended.  (Our adult selves are formed by our childhood lives.)</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Paradox is the linking of two apparently contradictory ideas.  (If we are more concerned with the words than the ideas which they express, we call it oxymoron.)  Wordsworth, for example, wrote “The Child is father of the Manâ€, although the normal literal use of words insists that a child’s father is a man; but of course there is a real meaning intended.  (Our adult selves are formed by our childhood lives.)</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">'''Paradox''' and [[oxymoron]] can be hard to distinguish.  As a rule of thumb, I would suggest that when a writer is deliberately trying to make an effect by contrast, it is an '''oxymoron'''; but if a contradiction exists in real life to which the writer is drawing attention, then it should be called a '''paradox'''.  This is not, of course, true where a writer deliberately chooses to make paradoxes, and calls them by that name.</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">(In older times, '''paradox''' often meant an idea that was hard to believe, or that went against the orthodox view.  In 1616, it was defined as: "an opinion maintained contrary to the common allowed opinion, as if one affirm that the earth doth move round, and the heavens stand still." (Bullokar, cited in ''OED''; spelling modernised for AWE.))</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[category:figures]] [[category:Figures of Speech course]]</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[category:figures]] [[category:Figures of Speech course]]</div></td></tr>
</table>PeterWilsonhttp://hull-awe.org.uk/index.php?title=Paradox&diff=2692&oldid=prevPeterWilson at 23:08, 28 November 20062006-11-28T23:08:20Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>''(This page forms part of a Course in Figures of Speech. You can find an introduction to it at [[Figures of Speech course]]. '''Paradox''', however, is less of a [[Figures of speech|Figure of speech]] than a nobsvation about the strange nature of life, and the phenomena it shows us. You may have accessed this page from another page on a particular example, or by a direct search.)'' <br />
<br />
<br />
Paradox is the linking of two apparently contradictory ideas. (If we are more concerned with the words than the ideas which they express, we call it oxymoron.) Wordsworth, for example, wrote “The Child is father of the Manâ€, although the normal literal use of words insists that a child’s father is a man; but of course there is a real meaning intended. (Our adult selves are formed by our childhood lives.)<br />
[[category:figures]] [[category:Figures of Speech course]]</div>PeterWilson