Friday, 16 January 2009

#3 - Sorites' Paradox

I know, I know - I love the ancient Greeks. They clearly had plenty of time on their hands, and used lots of it on thinking, and we could learn alot from that. Anyone who uses lots of time on thinking is alright in my book.

Anyway, on to the paradox! Sorites paradox derives from one of the simplest, most common things we learn to do - Counting. It derives from two things:


  1. A million pieces of grain is a heap.

  2. A heap of grain minus one piece of grain is still a heap.

If we agree that those two statements are true (Which I'm guessing we do? I don't know, that seems self explanatory) then we come to a serious problem. If statement 2 is true, that a heap of grain minus one piece of grain is still a heap, then if we repeat statement 2, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand nine hundred and nine (999,999) times...

Is one piece of grain still a heap?

And just to take it one step further, if that isn't bending your mind around enough, what about if we repeat step 2, one more time.

What if there's no grain left? But those two statements still make sense, right?

At what point is a heap not a heap?

This is another paradox based in vagueness, much like Theseus' Ship. Luckily, even if you find a conclusion here relatively easy to come to, you should find some enjoyment in working it through in that ole' headbox. Let me know what you think, at what point is a heap not a heap?

Cheerio,

~The Thinker
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4 comments:

  1. Tigerlea16 January 2009 at 15:20

    I think a heap is no longer a heap when it doesn't look like a heap. :D Nice and simple.

    Those Greeks were just too complicated.

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  2. Si's blog17 January 2009 at 13:27

    If I had to pay for it, it is not a heap.

    The Greeks had time on their hands because they had slaves to do their bidding.

    No slaves (but there is someone in my house who says she is treated like a slave) but do have time to read neat blogs and think about stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous18 January 2009 at 23:46

    Interesting post! What happens if you subtract two grains...

    Cheers,
    Claryn Darrow
    M.IV

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thinker19 January 2009 at 09:14

    Hi Clay - Thanks for following me :)

    I'd say the real question is, when you subtract two grains, are you taking a heap away, or just two grains? }:)

    ReplyDelete

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