标签：paradox

A Collection of Questions on the Mung Bean Distribution Problem and a Summary

History of Science & Scholarship2008.11.26
A Collection of Questions on the Mung Bean Distribution Problem and a Summary
After the previous “summary collection” was posted, the argument still continued, but now I’ve made up my mind to cut off the discussion! Professor Wu’s assignment has already been handed out, and other assignments may be close at hand as well, so let me focus on my current affairs for the time being~ This discussion began with a problem provided by the user igeli in https://yilinhut.net/2006/08/05/498.html. Later, because I forcibly closed the comments on that article, the discussion was moved under another unrelated article. I’ve now deleted those comments, but the full content is preserved in this collection. I’ve said before that my interest in philosophy really stems from mathematics,…
science mathematics logic paradox
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2008年11月26日
Philosophy and I: The Romance Chapter

Life & Notes2007.11.09
Philosophy and I: The Romance Chapter
Long before 《Gongqing Garden》 issued its call for submissions under the title “Me and Philosophy,” I had already been thinking of writing up some reflections on my contact with philosophy over these past few years. At the time, I roughly planned to divide it into three parts: encounter — romance — entanglement. Now that I am submitting something to 《Gongqing Garden》, and don’t want to write something long-winded and foul enough to annoy my junior classmates, I might as well write this middle piece first. What is meant by “romance” is nothing more than attachment and affection. Strictly speaking, there is quite a difference between the two words “romance” and…
philosophy autobiography pursuit love
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2007年11月9日
[U.S.] Robert Fogelin: “Walking on the Tightrope of Reason”

Philosophy & Thought2007.09.12
[U.S.] Robert Fogelin: “Walking on the Tightrope of Reason”
[U.S.]Robert Fogelin: *Walking on the Tightrope of Reason—The Uncertain Life of Rational Animals*, translated by Chen Rongxia, New Star Press, first edition, January 2007, 27.00 yuan Pages1~2 As rational animals, we live in a world full of hidden perils. The universe in which we live is extraordinarily, almost unimaginably, complex. On this point, Einstein once commented: “God is subtle, but he is not intentionally so.” Yet if we consider the strangeness embodied in reports from the frontiers of science, the universe seems increasingly marvelous. However, this complexity and strangeness do not necessarily make the lives of us rational animals full of uncertainty; they merely make life arduous.A more urgent question…
book reading notes Kant reason
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2007年9月12日
In Defense of Intuitionism

History of Science & Scholarship2006.08.15
In Defense of Intuitionism
In Defense of Intuitionism Abstract: From the perspective of defending intuitionism, the author explains intuitionism’s claims in the philosophy of mathematics and the philosophy of logic. The basic position of intuitionism is that mathematics is a creation of the human mind. Intuitionism rejects assigning any mathematical object a transcendent existence beyond mind and matter; intuition and creation, rather than proof and deduction, are the most important mathematical methods, the life of mathematics; the meaning of mathematics, like that of the other sciences, lies in discovering problems worth studying, touching the mysteries of nature, and ceaselessly pursuing truth. In the first half of this essay, the author sorts out intuitionism’s resistance…
philosophy Aristotle mathematics paper
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2006年8月15日
Some Interesting Problems, II: To Change or Not to Change?

History of Science & Scholarship2006.08.13
Some Interesting Problems, II: To Change or Not to Change?
Change or not change? This isn’t a logic puzzle in the strict sense, but it is still a very interesting strategy problem. It suddenly occurred to me: It goes something like this: you are taking part in a game show such as “Lucky 53,” and, fortunately, you win a prize. The host takes you to three boxes and tells you that one of them contains the grand prize—say, a luxury villa—while the other two contain only consolation prizes—say, a jar of doubanjiang. You may choose any one box at will. You choose a box, say Box No. 1. At this point the host opens, say, Box No. 3, and lets…
book reading notes mathematics choice
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2006年8月13日
A Dialogue on the Fourth Floor of a Building Without a Fourth Floor

History of Science & Scholarship2006.08.01
A Dialogue on the Fourth Floor of a Building Without a Fourth Floor
Oh, God, why is two plus two equal to four? —Alexander Pope Luo Ji: I hear a new bookstore has opened on the 5th floor? Bei Lun: Yes. Luo: Then I must go have a look. Bei: Fine, we’re on the 2nd floor now. Go up three more escalators and we’ll be there…… Luo: Why? Bei: ……Why what? Luo: I’m asking why going up three more escalators gets us there? Bei: ……Because we’re on the 2nd floor now. Luo: I’m asking why going up three floors from the 2nd floor makes the 5th floor? Bei: This…… because…… because 2+3=5! Come on, let’s go, hurry up—I really regret indulging you just…
philosophy science mathematics paradox
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2006年8月1日
The Paradox of Boring Games

Philosophy & Thought2006.07.30
The Paradox of Boring Games
Someone in the paradox studies course was planning to talk about some chess sophistry, saying that chess is a boring game, but his reasoning has serious problems. Let me reinforce it a bit: I’ll first offer a chess variant with slightly altered rules, and start with a math problem: **Two-move chess:** Modify the rules of chess so that in each round each player may make two consecutive moves, with everything else unchanged. Prove that the player to move first has a strategy of at least a draw. The proof is very simple: Proof by contradiction. Assume the first player has no strategy of at least a draw. That is, no…
philosophy mathematics game logic
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2006年7月30日
An Analysis of “The Half-Fee Lawsuit”

Philosophy & Thought2006.07.11
An Analysis of “The Half-Fee Lawsuit”
The so-called “Half-Fee Lawsuit” is said to be a story related to the ancient Greek sophist Protagoras: Protagoras was the founder of the Sophist school and one of the earliest fee-charging teachers in ancient Greece. A man named Euthlus once became Protagoras’s student to learn the art of litigation and defense, and the two signed a contract: when Euthlus enrolled, he would pay half the tuition fee; the other half would be paid in full when Euthlus won his first case after graduation. However, after graduating, Euthlus kept delaying and did not appear in court to argue cases for others, so the remaining half of the tuition fee had to…
philosophy logic paradox
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2006年7月11日
An Analysis of the “Sudden Drill Paradox”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.06.24
An Analysis of the “Sudden Drill Paradox”
An Analysis of the “Sudden Drills Paradox” Abstract: The “sudden drills paradox,” also called the “surprise exam paradox,” the “unexpected hanging paradox,” and so on, is briefly surveyed and analyzed in this article in non-technical language. I reexamine the reasoning premises and steps that may give rise to the paradox, and attempt to offer a way of understanding it. Keywords: sudden drills paradox exam paradox epistemic paradox contradiction Origin What was called the “sudden drill problem” was a puzzling question that had circulated for several years at the time. During the Second World War, the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation aired the following announcement: Within the coming week, there will be an…
mathematics paper logic paradox
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2006年6月24日
A Preliminary Analysis of the “Surprise Drill Paradox”

Philosophy & Thought2006.05.21
A Preliminary Analysis of the “Surprise Drill Paradox”
A Preliminary Analysis of the “Sudden Drill Paradox” Xingding posted on 2006-05-21 20:45:48 I don’t know whether there is any future in writing this line of thought out… In any case, this topic could either serve as an assignment for the summer course on “paradox studies,” or as the assignment for the current “philosophy of logic” course~ But to turn this piece of writing into a proper paper will still take some effort… A Preliminary Analysis of the “Sudden Drill Paradox,” (Continued) Xingding posted on 2006-05-25 17:24:18 But in any case, I still have not really dissolved this paradox. In fact, the extent to which I have analyzed it should…
philosophy logic paradox
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2006年5月21日