Hi there,
Please can somebody help me, if paradox is a statement that sounds untrue but is actually true, what is the term for a statement that sounds true but is in fact untrue? Is there such a term for the oposite of a paradox?
Many thanks
Barry
Sophism.
All that's rare is expensive. A cheap horse is rare. A cheap horse is therefore expensive.
Thanks Greg, much appreciated. Apologies for my spelling in the above.
Barry,
A sophism is an erroneous syllogism that rings true : "All that's rare is expensive. A cheap horse is rare. A cheap horse is therefore expensive".
Syllogisms can ring and be true : "All men are mortals. Socrates is a man. Therefore Socrates is a mortal".
About the cheap horse... this syllogism is false because the first statement (All that's rare is expensive.") is false: a cheap horse (among other things) is rare and that doesn't mean it's expensive.
You can create a sophism having true statements: "All men are mortal. Britney Spears is a mortal. Therefore Britney Spears is a man!?"
These are just a kind of paradox.
"Will you answer 'no'?"
This is another paradox.
Xatufan,
Your stuff about Ms Spears is not even a sophism.
Your hypothesis :
"All men are mortal" = A implies B
"Britney Spears is a mortal" = C implies B.
Your conclusion :
"Therefore Britney Spears is a man" = so C implies A.
A sophism is at least something that rings true (on surface). Your statement [A => B] + [C => B] => [C => A] isn't even logically valid : even on surface it doesn't make sense at all.
"All that's rare is expensive" : A => B
"A cheap horse is rare" : C => A
"A cheap horse is therefore expensive" : C => B
[A => B] + [C => A] => [C => B] is a totally logic statement (on surface) that's actually wrong.
There is no antonym for the word "paradox".
Sorry -- that last post was not from Barry. It was supposed to be from me, addressing Barry Wallace.
I can't find one but these : confirmation, congruity, corroboration, confirmation, consistency...