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jsidelko
Professor  Usergroup: Sponsors Joined: Jun 08, 2009 Total Topics: 70 Total Posts: 711 |
 #1
Subject: Self-referential sentences Self-referential sentences “This sentence is false.” is considered to be an example of a self-referential sentence. However, such a sentence may not necessarily be referring to itself. It could be referring to a different sentence. Suppose the sentence was referring to an unstated sentence rather than itself. For example, if I were to point at a sentence from a list and state: “This sentence is false.”, I would not be making a self-referential statement that is both true and false. There is insufficient information to positively state that certain sentences are actually self-referential.WIthout such information are we justified in making such a claim. thanatos |
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Arkady
Tenured Poster  Usergroup: Members Joined: Jul 29, 2009 Total Topics: 24 Total Posts: 1611 |
#2
This sentence is a sentence. "A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence." -David Hume |
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Timothy
Russell wannabe  Usergroup: Moderators Joined: Dec 18, 2004 Location: Grad School Total Topics: 94 Total Posts: 2374 |
#3
I guess theoreticians focus on the interesting case where "this sentence is false" yields paradox... 
T. |
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Dragohunter
illusion is persistent  Usergroup: Members Joined: Jan 08, 2009 Location: Why does it matteR? Total Topics: 22 Total Posts: 432 |
#4
I posted a similar topic: http://forums.philosophyforums.com...ent-is-a-lie----32868.html though your sentence is questioning the truth values of a sentence rather than the meaning of what the person is implying. But I can't say the sentence is truly "self-referenctial" in the rigorous sense because the sentence is being used by a person to refer to something else, or intentionally giving a direction of fit to the world. Another explanation is that the sentence itself does not really contradict each other at all. For an example, the statement "It is true that two plus two equals four" contains no more information than the statement "two plus two equals four," because the phrase "it is true that..." is always implicitly there. And in the self-referential illusion, the phrase "it is true that..." is equivalent to "this whole statement is true and ...". It is a simple contradiction of the form "A and not A", and so it's false. "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal." - Albert Einstein Influences: Ludwig Wittgenstein, C.S. Peirce, Soren Kierkegaard, John Searle, Daniel Dennett, Hilary Putnam, Socrates, Bertrand Russell, Karl Popper, David Hume, Albert Schweitzer, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Bernard Williams, Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Feynman, Zhuangzi, Albert Einstein, Leo Tolstoy |
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xzJoel
Ennui Elucidator Usergroup: Sponsors Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Location: New Jersey Total Topics: 51 Total Posts: 1786 |
#5
Would you prefer "the sentence you are now reading is false."? Is your issue merely that "this" is ambiguous when it stands without a context? Doesn't ordinary usage lend itself to the idea that an unspecified "this" refers to the thing most obviously present? "This is going to hurt." "This is my first time here." "This sentence is six words long." "This is stupid." What is your criteria for justification? If I define "this" such that the "this" in "this sentence is false" is self referential, am I justified in saying that it is self referential? “If a person truly believes that God is good and that everything God does is good, that person can’t be sad. Sadness is actually a sign of atheism.” The Baal Shem Tov I must be the biggest atheist of them all. |
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Schlitz
Hulkamaniac  Usergroup: Moderators Joined: Feb 09, 2009 Location: Wiscansin Total Topics: 6 Total Posts: 370 |
#6
Self-reference isn't a big deal in its own right. There are many trivial but true self-referential sentences: "This sentence is in English," "This sentence features the word 'sentence'," "This sentence has 22 letters," and false self-referential sentences: "This sentence is in German," This sentence does not feature the word 'sentence,' "This sentence has 0 letters," and so on. Self-referential sentences get juicy only when you start using "is true" in them. Check this out for more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar_paradox |
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Cadrache
Tenured Poster  Usergroup: Members Joined: Dec 09, 2006 Location: AB, Canada Total Topics: 108 Total Posts: 3181 |
#7
The determination of whether or not a sentence is a fragment trumps self-referentiality. Words the wiser become the name you do not know. - Some guy with a surname Blanchard. _____________________________________________ For Wit to happen; one must first play in shadows. |
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Hanover
The Highest Rank Possible  Usergroup: Sponsors Joined: Nov 30, 2008 Location: Atlanta Total Topics: 16 Total Posts: 1780
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#8
The sentence is self-referential only if you begin with the understanding that you are not communicating other facts outside of the actual sentence itself. If you're speaking a sentence and pointing here and there and changing your inflection, then you may be able to make any sentence mean almost anything. When I say, "this sentence is false," I'm pointing emphatically to my calculator at the word "sentence," clearly indicating that I mean "calculator" when I say "sentence." What's confusing is that I don't know what it means for a calculator to be false, but from my tone, I am absolutely certain of it. "Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that's impossible, but it's too bad anyway." Holden Caulfield |
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