The notion of a ‘paradox’ has been central to the development of human knowledge. Through much of the history of philosophy, there have been certain major paradoxes that have drawn the attention of some of the greatest minds in each era. Sometimes these paradoxes may seem extremely simple and trivial. So trivial, in fact, that someone may think that they are some sort of parlor trick. The temptation to treat them as nothing more substantial than verbal legerdemain can be strong. And yet, generation after generation, era after era, they continue to persist. To take a simple example, try this:nThe sentence right below this one is false.nnThe sentence right above this one is true.nnThis seemingly simple paradox (a version of the so called ‘liar’ paradox) has been at the core of some of the most far-reaching developments in philosophy and science. Various attempted resolutions to it have led in surprising and unexpected directions.In this course we will familiarize ourselves with some of the most famous paradoxes in history and look at some of the attempted solutions. It is not our purpose to endorse any solution—since many current thinkers still regard them open and unsolved problems. Instead, our intention is to gain a deeper acquaintance with some of these famous puzzles and how people have tried to overcome them.In the second part of the course, we will investigate another notion that has continued to fascinate and confuse in equal measure for millennia. This is the notion of “infinity” and has quite famously been a source of many famous paradoxes.
