July
26, 2017 Wednesday
Bedtime
Story
Liar Paradox and the End of Islamic Golden Age
Tusi
did not stop merely at his radical analysis of the Liar Paradox.
He
went further in his writings and gave his clarification on the definitions of
“true” and “false”.
“…its
being false, insofar as it is a declarative sentence, does not necessitate its
being true.
Instead,
its being false necessitates the denial of its being false, insofar as it is
that-about-which-something-is declared, and [necessitates] its being false,
insofar as it is a declarative sentence.
Hence
we should not concede that, in this way, the denial of its being false
necessitates its being true.”
Here
is crucial difference between Abhari and Tusi on the very definitions of ‘true’
and ‘false’.
Abhari
insisted that a statement is true when it is in agreement with its subject and
false when it is opposite of that.
Tusi
disagrees strongly with this reasoning.
Not
in general, of course, but specifically when it comes to self-referring declarative
sentences.
This
kind of reasoning, he insists, works for most other statements but would not be
applicable to a declarative sentence that declares its own subject to be false.
In
such a specific case, two opposite parts end up in disagreement with each
other.
The
same subject cannot be in disagreement with itself.
So
what is Tusi’s take finally on the Liar Paradox?
Tusi
says that a self-referenced declarative sentence that declares itself to be
false, like the case in the Liar Paradox, can neither be false nor true.
To
such sentences, the definition of true or false is simply not applicable.
With
this much I am going to leave behind the glorious Islamic Golden Age that was
brought to end probably in 1258 with the Siege of Baghdad.
Baghdad
was then the capital of Abbasid Caliphate and the seat of science, philosophy,
invention and culture.
Though
it is often repeated that religion was the cause of the end of Islamic Golden
Age, it may not necessarily be true.
What
destroyed the Caliphate and with it the Islamic Golden Age was the barbaric and
brutal hoards, the likes of which the world had never seen before.
The
fall of the Islamic Golden Age coincides exactly with the rise and the
expansion of the Mongol Empire that had unleashed upon the world destruction
the likes of which was never seen before.
Twentieth
century, of course, would take warfare, bloodshed and brutality to totally new
heights mostly by the great European Powers.
The
Turco-Mongol invasions, it is estimated, killed approximately 5% of the world
population of that time.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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