Single Idea 13368

[catalogued under 5. Theory of Logic / L. Paradox / 4. Paradoxes in Logic / b. König's paradox]

Full Idea

König: there are indefinable ordinals, and the least indefinable ordinal has just been defined in that very phrase. (Recall that something is definable iff there is a (non-indexical) noun-phrase that refers to it).

Gist of Idea

The 'least indefinable ordinal' is defined by that very phrase

Source

Graham Priest (The Structure of Paradoxes of Self-Reference [1994], §3)

Book Reference

-: 'Mind' [-], p.28


A Reaction

Priest makes great subsequent use of this one, but it feels like a card trick. 'Everything indefinable has now been defined' (by the subject of this sentence)? König, of course, does manage to pick out one particular object.