more on this theme | more from this thinker
Full Idea
The Achilles argument is that (if the front runner keeps running) each time the pursuer reaches a spot where the pursuer has been, the pursued has moved a bit beyond.
Gist of Idea
Whenever the pursuer reaches the spot where the pursuer has been, the pursued has moved on
Source
Willard Quine (The Ways of Paradox [1961], p.03)
Book Ref
Quine,Willard: 'Ways of Paradox and other essays' [Harvard 1976], p.3
A Reaction
Quine is always wonderfully lucid, and this is the clearest simple statement of the paradox.
| 21689 | A barber shaves only those who do not shave themselves. So does he shave himself? [Quine] |
| 21690 | Whenever the pursuer reaches the spot where the pursuer has been, the pursued has moved on [Quine] |
| 21691 | Antinomies contradict accepted ways of reasoning, and demand revisions [Quine] |
| 21692 | If we write it as '"this sentence is false" is false', there is no paradox [Quine] |
| 21693 | Russell's antinomy challenged the idea that any condition can produce a set [Quine] |
| 21694 | Membership conditions which involve membership and non-membership are paradoxical [Quine] |
| 21695 | The set scheme discredited by paradoxes is actually the most natural one [Quine] |