John Buridan on Self-Reference: Chapter Eight of Buridan's 'Sophismata', with a Translation, an Introduction, and a Philosophical CommentaryJohn Buridan was a fourteenth-century philosopher who enjoyed an enormous reputation for about two hundred years, was then totally neglected, and is now being 'rediscovered' through his relevance to contemporary work in philosophical logic. The final chapter of Buridan's Sophismata deals with problems about self-reference, and in particular with the semantic paradoxes. He offers his own distinctive solution to the well-known 'Liar Paradox' and introduces a number of other paradoxes that will be unfamiliar to most logicians. Buridan also moves on from these problems to more general questions about the nature of propositions, the criteria of their truth and falsity and the concepts of validity and knowledge. This edition of that chapter is intended to make Buridan's ideas and arguments accessible to a wider range of readers. The volume should interest many philosophers, linguists and logicians, who are increasingly finding in medieval work striking anticipations of their own concerns. |
Contents
COMMENTARY | 2 |
INTRODUCTORY SOPHISMS | 34 |
D | 65 |
You are going to answer in the negative | 72 |
Socrates is cursing Plato | 78 |
Sophism I | 80 |
Sophism 2 | 86 |
Sophism 3 | 88 |
Sophism 10 | 122 |
Sophism II | 124 |
Sophism 12 | 127 |
Sophism 13 | 128 |
Sophism 14 | 139 |
Sophism 15 | 145 |
Sophism 16 | 154 |
Sophism 17 | 157 |
Other editions - View all
John Buridan on Self-Reference: Chapter Eight of Buridan's 'Sophismata ... John Buridan No preview available - 1982 |
John Buridan on Self-Reference: Chapter Eight of Buridan's 'Sophismata ... John Buridan No preview available - 1982 |
Common terms and phrases
according to Buridan animal answer argument asserts categorical proposition concept condition conjunction context contextually inconsistent contradictory correspondence truth-conditions deduce disjunctive propositions donkey doubtful to Plato doubting a proposition entails something false enthymeme equiform equivalent example exists expression fact follows formal meaning formulated given horse hypothesis knows the proposition Liar paradox logicians mental proposition object of knowledge paradoxes Plato is saying Plato knows Plato's proposition posited premiss present sophism principle of truth-entailment Prior Analytics problem proof proposition is false proposition is negative proposition is true proposition says proposition written question reason reference refute reply saying is false saying is true second disjunct self-reference self-referential propositions sense sentence signifies simply Socrates is saying Socrates knows someone is doubting sophism is false sophism is true Sophismata stand suppose supposition syllogism theory things true and false true or false true proposition truth-value ultimate significates wall is doubtful want to eat