Is Yablo's paradox non-circular? (Q2759797)

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scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1683773
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Is Yablo's paradox non-circular?
scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1683773

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    26 August 2002
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    liar paradox
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    Yablo's paradox
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    Is Yablo's paradox non-circular? (English)
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    Stephen Yablo's paradox is an apparently non-circular version of the Liar, consisting of a sequence of sentences beginning: NEWLINE\[NEWLINE\text{For all } k>0,\;s_k\text{ is not true}.\tag \(s_0\) NEWLINE\]NEWLINE \textit{G. Priest} [Analysis, Oxf. 57, 236-242 (1997; Zbl 0943.03588)] argued that it was in fact circular, and \textit{R. Sorensen} [Mind 107, 137-155 (1998)] replied. This paper defends Priest's position, arguing that to fix the denotation of the term ``Yablo's paradox'' by demonstration we should have to see the whole of a denumerable sequence (to see merely part of it will not do, because any segment can be continued in different ways), and to fix it by description is necessarily circular. Thus the satisfaction conditions of our available reference-fixing descriptions require a satisfier that involves circularity, self-reference, a fixed point. Ergo the paradox is not non-circular.
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