more from Willard Quine

Single Idea 21689

[catalogued under 5. Theory of Logic / L. Paradox / 5. Paradoxes in Set Theory / d. Russell's paradox]

Full Idea

In a certain village there is a barber, who shaves all and only those men in the village who do not shave themselves. So does the barber shave himself? The barber shaves himself if and only if he does not shave himself.

Gist of Idea

A barber shaves only those who do not shave themselves. So does he shave himself?

Source

Willard Quine (The Ways of Paradox [1961], p.02)

Book Reference

Quine,Willard: 'Ways of Paradox and other essays' [Harvard 1976], p.2


A Reaction

[Russell himself quoted this version of his paradox, from an unnamed source] Quine treats his as trivial because it only concerns barbers, but the full Russell paradox is a major 'antinomy', because it concerns sets.