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Course, academic year 2023/2024
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What is a Paradox? - AFSV00418
Title: What is a Paradox?
Guaranteed by: Institute of Philosophy and Religious Studies (21-UFAR)
Faculty: Faculty of Arts
Actual: from 2023 to 2023
Semester: summer
Points: 0
E-Credits: 5
Examination process: summer s.:
Hours per week, examination: summer s.:2/0, Ex [HT]
Capacity: unlimited / unknown (unknown)
Min. number of students: unlimited
4EU+: no
Virtual mobility / capacity: no
Key competences:  
State of the course: taught
Language: English
Teaching methods: full-time
Teaching methods: full-time
Level:  
Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan
enabled for web enrollment
Guarantor: Cesare Cherchi
Teacher(s): Cesare Cherchi
Aim of the course - Czech
Last update: Cesare Cherchi (29.01.2024)

The course’s aim is to explain and define the different kind of paradoxes by their structure and features, while also describing the logical and philosophical accounts, and solutions that arose in the last centuries. By the end of the course the students should have new means to face logical problems that arise in different philosophical topics.

Descriptors - Czech
Last update: Cesare Cherchi (29.01.2024)

What is a paradox? We often say that something is "paradoxical", but we rarely try to define the concept. The reality is that a paradox is not a well defined entity even in philosophy: we call a paradox a correct argument that gives us a surprising conclusion, a fallacious one that leads us to impossible, or sometimes even to surprisingly true, results, and finally – and most prominently – we call paradox an apparently correct line of reasoning that leads to a contradiction.

Literature
Last update: Cesare Cherchi (02.02.2024)

The course will consist in various pieces of literature supplied by the teacher every week. Anyway the main text followed during the semester will be:

Falletta, N., (1983) “The Paradoxicon”, Doubleday, New York.
Field, H., (2008) “Saving Truth from Paradoxes”, Oxford University Press, New York
Łukowski, P., (2011) “Paradoxes”, Springer, Dordrecht.
Sainsbury, R.M., (2009) “Paradoxes”, Cambridge University Press, New York.

Teaching methods - Czech
Last update: Cesare Cherchi (29.01.2024)

The course will consist in twelve seminars of ninety minutes each in which we will deal with the different topics according to the schedule by reading and discussing the material. The material will consist of relevant passages and articles taken from the relevant bibliography, and it will be provided by the teacher a week in advance.

Requirements to the exam
Last update: Cesare Cherchi (02.02.2024)

Active in-class participation and a short paper – between 2000 and 3000 words – are required to successfully complete the course. The topic of the paper, based on the material discussed in class, has to be previously agreed upon with the teacher.

Education plan -
Schedule semestral
Educational week Date From - To Education type Theme Teacher Files Note
123.02.202410:50 - 12:50nothingIntroduction to the courseCesare CherchiProgram (1).pdf [ALL] 
201.03.202410:50 - 12:50lecture+seminarEleatic paradoxesCesare CherchiPriest (1999).pdf [ALL]
Sainsbury pp. 4-21.pdf [ALL]
 
308.03.202410:50 - 12:50lecture+seminarVagueness and vagueness' paradoxesCesare CherchiEvans (1978).pdf [ALL]
Lewis (1988).pdf [ALL]
Varzi (2003).pdf [ALL]
 
415.03.202410:50 - 12:50lecture+seminarVagueness and vagueness' paradoxesCesare CherchiWilliamson (2003).pdf [ALL] 
522.03.202410:50 - 12:50seminarSemantic ParadoxesCesare CherchiSainsbury pp. 127-136.pdf [ALL] 
629.03.202410:50 - 12:50lecture+seminarThe Liar's ParadoxCesare CherchiLukowski pp.80-98.pdf [ALL] 
705.04.202410:50 - 12:50lecture+seminarRevenge's ParadoxesCesare CherchiBeall pp. 52-64.pdf [ALL] 
812.04.202410:50 - 12:50lecture+seminarAn overview on some set-theoretical paradoxesCesare CherchiAczel (2000).pdf [ALL] 
919.04.202410:50 - 12:50lecture+seminarSemantic paradoxes and set-theoretical paradoxesCesare CherchiKripke (1975).pdf [ALL]
Varzi (2010) en.pdf [ALL]
 
1026.04.202410:50 - 12:50lecture+seminarTheories of TruthCesare Cherchi 
1103.05.202410:50 - 12:50lecture+seminarTheories of TruthCesare Cherchi 
1210.05.202410:50 - 12:50lectureWhat is so bad about Contradictions?Cesare Cherchi 
 
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