Weighing in at 220.462 pounds, Harry is a fat man. He won't stop being fat if his weight drops to 220.460. So that means any man who weighs the same as Harry must also be fat: a fraction of an ounce, or a gram, can never make the difference between being fat or thin. But, if that's true, then someone who weighs 220.457, is also fat, and so is someone who weighs 220.455 pounds and so on. You'll still be claiming that a fraction of an ounce, or a gram can't make a difference between fat and thin when you're comparing the person who weighs 88.194 pounds to one who weighs 88.182. But this is absurd: someone who weighs 88.184 pounds could never be described as fat. Hence the paradox: a series of apparently logically watertight steps lead us to a conclusion that is manifestly false. But neither the logic nor the observation have any evident flaws.
This is a very interesting philosophy by Eubulide. What I love about this philosophy is that, like stated in the last sentence, the logic nor observation have any evident flaws. If you were to compare a 220 pound man, to a man of 5 pounds less, and then so on and so forth, you'd reach a point where you'd say, that man is no longer fat. However, when looking so closely, at a fraction of a gram or an ounce, it's difficult to finally go, aha! that is it, he is no longer fat.
I hope you enjoyed this 30 second philosophy. Let me know what you guys think.
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While this concept was really confusing at first, it is really interesting and you were able to explain it in a way that was understandable!
ReplyDeleteCool! Although a really random topic for a post :P
Can I ask what inspired this?
Where did you first hear about this philosophy?
This was a very cool way of looking at a very contoversial topic, what is technically fat and when is someone considered fat.
ReplyDeleteI like the way that you explained it, i was a little confused at first but i all made sense in the end.
Good job van
Hmmm. I see where I went wrong with this entry. I'm very familar with this philsophy, so to me it makes complete sense, but for some people, reading this for the first can be very confusing. Thanks for the feedback, I'll be sure be more clear next time.
ReplyDeleteJordan, I no idea what to write about, nothing really inspired it, it was rather forced to be honest. I first heard about this philsophy while reading a book of philsophies, and from there I familiarized myself with it, because I like how it deals with perception.