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Written by Muhammad Natsir Tahar
In the definition of
paradoxes, it is stated that a paradox is a situation that arises from a number
of premises that are acknowledged to be true and starts from a statement that
leads to a contradiction.
The etymology of paradox can
be traced back to the renaissance, from paradoxon meaning
according to what is accepted. This term almost coincides with orthodox (direct
teaching) and heterodox (different teachings).
In our daily life, sometimes
the paradox arises when something has a truth value but has the opportunity to
be undermined. The Law of Contradiction or Principium
Contradictionis (Wikipedia), is a rule which states that it is
impossible for something to be that thing and not that thing at the same time.
While the paradox of trying to break this law, that something is possible is
precisely the two things mentioned.
The oldest and most well-known
paradox is the liars paradox, when
Epimenides says that all Cretans are liars. While Epimenides was a Cretan,
which means he was a liar. If Epimenides lied, it means that the Cretans were
all honest, whereas Epimenides was a Cretan, and so on.
Practically, the paradox is
like a dilemma, it is usually used to argue against the interlocutor by placing
him in a difficult and awry situation.
The paradox of a lie is like a
trap when someone start stelling it. As written in several articles, there is a
kind of paradox of lies called the Pinocchio
Paradox.
Pinocchio said, “My nose will
grow long”. As we know Pinocchio’s nose will grow if he lies. And if he says
his nose will grow and it doesn’t, then Pinocchio is lying. Thus because of
lying his nose willlengthen.
But if his nose is long it
means he is telling the truth. Automatically if he tells the truth then his
nose will not grow. Thus Pinocchio is in a state where his nose will lengthen
while his nose will not.
There
are some interesting paradoxes to mess around with. The first is the Grandfather Paradox. This paradox reads, “If we could
go back in time and kill our grandfather, what would happen?”
Probably, the easy answer is
that the old man will die. But the answer or result of the condition is not
that simple. If our grandfather dies, our parents will automatically not be
born into the world, and of course we will also not be born into the world,
then this means that we also never killed our grandfather. Then how can it
happen that our condition kills our grandfather while the result of our
grandfather being killed makes us not born into the world.
Another paradox and the most
controversial is the Paradox of
Omnipotence. This paradox is often used by atheists to express
their opinion on the absence of God. It reads: “God is Almighty and He can do
anything. The question is, can God Almighty create a rock super heavy that even
God himself cannot lift it?”
There are two important
premises in this paradox. First, can God create the stone? Because God is
almighty then of course He can. The second premise, but if God created the
stone and can’t lift it, it would show that there is something God can’t do and
at the same time break the first premise.
The answer to this paradox
cannot be found in our logic. Because God himself is beyond the reach of human
logic.
In factual conditions we find
a paradox in the collection of taxes by the state. Call it the Tax Paradox. The state ideally has the duty to
fulfill the public welfare. But at the same time the state collects taxes from
the people. Withholding taxes resulted in a decrease in the level of welfare.
On the other hand, if the
state does not collect taxes, the state cannot carry out its function for the
welfare of the people. Meanwhile, to carry out its function for the welfare of
the people, the state must collect taxes.
This paradox will be answered
if a condition is created that the tax that is withdrawn is actually returned
to the people in another form, so that the welfare that is reduced due to the
tax collection is immediately replaced.
But will the condition be like
that, if later what is returned to the people in the form of public facilities
and public services is actually financed from other sources such as debt and
non-tax income?
Meanwhile, the tax that was
withdrawn turned out to be used up only to finance itself in an extravagant
way, for example.
Meanwhile, programs that are
contradictory to public welfare, such as the elimination of subsidies and the
expansion and increase in the amount of tax levies, are intensified by the
state when it has to do the opposite. ~
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