talkmagic.co.uk

Marvell wrote:This, of course, is just an application of "Does the set of all sets which don't contain themselves contain itself?"

i.e. The Third Man argument of Plato's Theory of Forms!

A similar paradox with the Forms is to do with the nature of participation: something is good because it participates in the Form of the Good. But does the whole of the Form participate in 'something' or only a part of it? In other words are there many Forms of the Good or is the Form of the Good divisible? In which case something which receives less than that which is wholly good is nevertheless made good.

I am confusing myself now .

My brain hurts.

beeno wrote:Who says if zero is a number or integer?
Is it the laws of nature, or just what we've decided on this week?

Mathematicians do. All integers are numbers.

Marvell wrote:This, of course, is just an application of "Does the set of all sets which don't contain themselves contain itself?"

bloody set theory

This is straying into philosophy...!

"Do you believe in absolute truth?"
"No."
"Do you believe that absolutely?"

Can we totter away from the maths and back to paradoxes (or whatever the heck you want to call them) people? I really like the idea of using these riddles in a magical presentation and thought the creation of this thread was a great idea... I'd like to see how well your magic goes down if you start discussing whether 0 is an integer or whether it's possible to divide by infinity...