"Рэймонд Смаллиан. Две философские сценки (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

FRANK: Good! What will you do about it?
EPISTEMOLOGIST: How do I know what I will do about it, I can't read the
future?
FRANK: I mean, what do you presently intend to do about it?
EPISTEMOLOGIST: Good question, let me consult the machine. According to
the machine, my current intentions are in complete conflict. And I can see
why! I am caught in a terrible paradox! If the machine is trustworthy, then
I had better accept its suggestion to distrust it. But if I distrust it,
then I also distrust its suggestion to distrust it, so I am really in a
total quandary.
FRANK: Look, I know of someone who I think might be really of help in
this problem. I'll leave you for a while to consult him. Au revoir!

Scene 4. (Later in the day at a psychiatrist's office.)
FRANK: Doctor, I am terribly worried about a friend of mine. He calls
himself an "experimental epistemologist."
DOCTOR: Oh, the experimental epistemologist. There is only one in the
world. I know him well!
FRANK: That is a relief. But do you realize that he has constructed a
mind-reading device that he now directs to his own brain, and whenever one
asks him what he thinks, believes, feels, is afraid of, and so on, he has to
consult the machine first before answering? Don't you think this is pretty
serious?
DOCTOR: Not as serious as it might seem. My prognosis for him is
actually quite good.
FRANK: Well, if you are a friend of his, couldn't you sort of keep an
eye on him?
DOCTOR: I do see him quite frequently, and I do observe him much.
However, I don't think he can be helped by so-called "psychiatric
treatment." His problem is an unusual one, the sort that has to work itself
out. And I believe it will.
FRANK: Well, I hope your optimism is justified. At any rate I sure
think I need some help at this point!
DOCTOR: How so?
FRANK: My experiences with the epistemologist have been thoroughly
unnerving! At this point I wonder if I may be going crazy; I can't even have
confidence in how things appear to me. I think maybe you could be helpful
here.
DOCTOR: I would be happy to but cannot for a while. For the next three
months I am unbelievably overloaded with work. After that, unfortunately, I
must go on a three-month vacation. So in six months come back and we can
talk this over.

Scene 5. (Same office, six months later.)
DOCTOR: Before we go into your problems, you will be happy to hear that
your friend the epistemologist is now completely recovered.
FRANK: Marvelous, how did it happen?
DOCTOR: Almost, as it were, by a stroke of fate--and yet his very
mental activities were, so to speak, part of the "fate." What happened was
this: For months after you last saw him, he went around worrying "should I