Elephant,
You wrote:
Now (comparative) brevity...
RICK: Brevity appreciated, I will try to return the favor.
>
> RICK WROTE:
> > I have been taught that to label a rule as "self- contradictory" where
the
> > only thing that violates a rule is its own expression is to commit the
> > logical/rhetorical fallacy of "self-inclusion"--- the inclusion of the
hidden
> > premise that "logic demands rules always include themselves".
>
> ELEPHANT:
> I still think you are confused.
RICK: I know you do, but I don't think I am. I understand the point your
trying to make. I simply don't think it's really on the point. I'll try to
make it clearer if I can... First, I think the examples with hangmen and
your pseudonym are spurious. The problem we're addressing deals with the
linguistic confusion surrounding rules which are seemingly rendered "false"
or "illogical" solely by their own expression....
A man woke up one morning and looked about world. He noticed that there was
not one single rule which did not have an exception. But the moment he said
so, it became untrue...?
Logically, there can be no rules in the universe without exceptions until
one tries to say that such is the case. Logically, there can be no
absolutes in the universe until one tries to say that such is the case. The
problem created is not one of logic, but one of expression; a shortcoming of
language, not a shortcoming of reason.... The self-inclusion fallacy is the
mistake of misidentifying a linguistic problem as a logical problem. The
linguistic problem is trickey to solve (There is only one rule with no
exceptions? The only rule with no exceptions is this one? This is the only
rule with no exceptions?). But the self-inclusion fallacy liberates the
logical thought from its awkward expression by relieving the statement of
its linguistic circularity.
That's the best I can do on this.
Must we agree to disagree?
Rick
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