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The sorites paradox: If a heap is reduced by a single grain at a time, the question is at what exact point it ceases to be considered a heap. The sorites paradox (/ s oʊ ˈ r aɪ t iː z /), [1] sometimes known as the paradox of the heap, is a paradox that results from vague predicates. [2]
Buttered cat paradox: Humorous example of a paradox from contradicting proverbs. Intentionally blank page: Many documents contain pages on which the text "This page intentionally left blank" is printed, thereby making the page not blank. Metabasis paradox: Conflicting definitions of what is the best kind of tragedy in Aristotle's Poetics.
The word sorites / s ɒ ˈ r aɪ t iː z / comes from Ancient Greek: σωρίτης, heaped up, from σωρός heap or pile. Thus a sorites is a heap of propositions chained together. A sorites polysyllogism should not be confused with the sorites paradox, a.k.a. the fallacy of the heap. Lewis Carroll uses sorites in his book Symbolic Logic ...
For example, the English adjective "tall" is vague since it is not clearly true or false for someone of middling height. By contrast, the word "prime" is not vague since every number is definitively either prime or not. Vagueness is commonly diagnosed by a predicate's ability to give rise to the Sorites paradox.
The inscrutability of reference is also used in the sorites paradox. The classic example for the sorites paradox mentions a heap of wheat grains from which grains are taken away one by one, until at one time there's only a single grain left. This raises the question of where the line is to be drawn concerning what constitutes a heap.
A polysyllogism, or a sorites, is a form of argument in which a series of incomplete syllogisms is so arranged that the predicate of each premise forms the subject of the next until the subject of the first is joined with the predicate of the last in the conclusion. For example, one might argue that all lions are big cats, all big cats are ...
Baltimore was held up as an example of progress. The authors cited a study showing that the publicly funded Baltimore Buprenorphine Initiative, aimed at increasing access to medical treatments, helped spur a roughly 50 percent reduction in the city’s overdose deaths between 1995 and 2009.
In literature, the paradox is an anomalous juxtaposition of incongruous ideas for the sake of striking exposition or unexpected insight. It functions as a method of literary composition and analysis that involves examining apparently contradictory statements and drawing conclusions either to reconcile them or to explain their presence.