"Рэймонд Смаллиан. Две философские сценки (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автораsworn that the book seemed red to me; it sure seems that it seems read to
me! EPISTEMOLOGIST: I'm sorry, but you are wrong again. FRANK: Really? It doesn't even seem that it seems red to me? It sure seems like it seems like it seems red to me! EPISTEMOLOGIST: Wrong again! And no matter how many times you reiterate the phrase "it seems like" and follow it by "the book is red" you will be wrong. FRANK: This is fantastic! Suppose instead of the phrase "it seems like" I would say "I believe that." So let us start again at ground level. I retract the statement "It seems red to me" and instead I assert "I believe that this book is red." Is this statement true or false? EPISTEMOLOGIST: Just a moment while I scan the dials of the brain-reading machine--no, the statement is false. FRANK: And what about "I believe that I believe that the book is red"? EPISTEMOLOGIST (consulting his dials): Also false. And again, no matter how many times you iterate "I believe," all these belief sentences are false. FRANK: Well, this has been a most enlightening experience. However, you must admit that it is a little hard on me to realize that I am entertaining infinitely many erroneous beliefs! EPISTEMOLOGIST: Why do you say that your beliefs are erroneous? FRANK: But you have been telling me this all the while! EPISTEMOLOGIST: I most certainly have not! FRANK: Good God, I was prepared to admit all my errors, and now you crazy? EPISTEMOLOGIST: Hey, take it easy! Please try to recall: When did I say or imply that any of your beliefs are erroneous? FRANK: Just simply recall the infinite sequence of sentences: (1) I believe this book is red; (2) I believe that I believe this book is red; and so forth. You told me that every one of those statements is false. EPISTEMOLOGIST: True. FRANK: Then how can you consistently maintain that my beliefs in all these false statements are not erroneous? EPISTEMOLOGIST: Because, as I told you, you don't believe any of them. FRANK: I think I see, yet I am not absolutely sure. EPISTEMOLOGIST: Look, let me put it another way. Don't you see that the very falsity of each of the statements that you assert saves you from an erroneous belief in the preceding one? The first statement is, as I told you, false. Very well! Now the second statement is simply to the effect that you believe the first statement. If the second statement were true, then you would believe the first statement, and hence your belief about the first statement would indeed be in error. But fortunately the second statement is false, hence you don't really believe the first statement, so your belief in the first statement is not in error. Thus the falsity of the second statement implies you do not have an erroneous belief about the first; the falsity of the third likewise saves you from an erroneous belief about the second, etc. FRANK: Now I see perfectly! So none of my beliefs were erroneous, only |
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