Paradox by Don L. F. Nilsen

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PARADOX

by Don L. F. Nilsen
and Alleen Pace Nilsen

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN

Gilbert and Sullivan often relied on paradox for comic effect. In The Pirates of Penzance, they composed a song about paradoxes:
How quaint the ways of paradox!
At common sense she gaily mocks!
A paradox, a paradox,
A most ingenious paradox!
Ha! ha! ha! ha!
(Nilsen & Nilsen 219)

GREEK PHILOSOPHERS

The Greek philosophers often wrestled with paradoxes.
The most famous was credited to the Cretan philosopher Epimenides: “All Cretans are liars.”
Epimenides was a Cretan. Therefore, If he is lying, then the statement must be true. But if the statement is true, he must be lying.
(Nilsen & Nilsen 219)

PARADOX VS. CONTRADICTION

Paradoxes are statements that seem contradictory, unbelievable, or absurd, but in some sense are nevertheless true.
Because paradoxes highlight breakdowns in our expectations of a logical universe, they are sources of both delight and consternation as the human mind works to figure out how people can in good faith talk about a “large mouse” running between the legs of a “small elephant” or can make sense out of the Yiddish curse, “He should drop dead, God forbid!”
(Nilsen & Nilsen 219)

SIGNIFICANT PARADOXES FROM THE 16TH CENTURY TO THE 20TH CENTURY

Sits he on ever so high a throne, a man still sits on his bottom. (Michel Elyquem de Montaigne, 1533-1592)
We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. (Jonathan Swift, 1667-1745)

I laugh, so that I may not cry. (Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, 1732-1799)

I laugh, so that I may not cry. (Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, 1732-1799)
Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. (Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900)

!!There ain’t any answer. There ain’t going to be any answer. There never has been an answer. That’s the answer. (Gertrude Stein, 1874-1946)

!!There ain’t any answer. There ain’t going to be any answer. There never has been an answer. That’s the answer. (Gertrude Stein, 1874-1946)
The vital question today is not whether there will be life after death, but whether there was life before death. (Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1990)

Visual Paradox

References:

References:
Brooks, Cleanth. "The Language of Paradox." Contemporary Literary Criticism: Literary and Cultural Studies. Eds. Robert Con Davis, and Ronald Schleifer. New York: Longman, 1989, 32-42.
Falletta, Nicholas. The Paradoxicon. New York, NY: John Wiley, 1983.
Fry, William F., Jr. "Humor and Paradox." American Behavioral Scientist. 30.1 (1987): 42-71.
Gans, Eric. Signs of Paradox, Irony, Resentment, and Other Mimetic Structures Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997.
Hofstadter, Douglas R. Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1980.
Leiber, Justin. Paradoxes. London, England: Duckworth, 1993.
Morreall, John. “Aristotle and the Paradox of Tragedy.” Delta Epsilon Signa Journal 24.2 (1979): 50-56.

Nilsen, Don L. F. "Parody, Paradox, Nonsense, and Legends." Humor Scholarship: A Research Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993, 101-112.

Nilsen, Don L. F. "Parody, Paradox, Nonsense, and Legends." Humor Scholarship: A Research Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993, 101-112.
Nilsen, Don L. F. "'The Seriousness of Humor' And Other Antithetical Paradoxes." California English 20.5 (1984): 14-15 and 22.
Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen. Encyclopedia of 20th Century American Humor. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000.
Rescher, Nicholas. Paradoxes. Peru, IL: Carus Publishing Company, 2001.
Poundstone, William. Labyrinths of Reason: Paradox, Puzzles, and the Frailty of Knowledge. New York: Anchor, 1988.

Seward, Samuel S. Jr. The Paradox of the Ludicrous. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ Press, 1930.

Seward, Samuel S. Jr. The Paradox of the Ludicrous. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ Press, 1930.
Shaw, David W. Elegy and Paradox. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.
Shershow, Scott Cutler. Laughing Matters: The Paradox of Comedy. Amherst: Univ of Mass Press, 1986.
Stainsbury, Richard Mark. Paradoxes. Cambridge, England: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1988.
Woodcock, George. The Paradox of Oscar Wilde. London, England: T. V. Boardman, 1949.

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Paradox by Don L. F. Nilsen

PARADOX

by Don L. F. Nilsen

and Alleen Pace Nilsen

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN

Gilbert and Sullivan often relied on paradox for comic effect. In The Pirates of Penzance, they composed a song about paradoxes:

How quaint the ways of paradox!

At common sense she gaily mocks!

A paradox, a paradox,

A most ingenious paradox!

Ha! ha! ha! ha!

(Nilsen & Nilsen 219)

GREEK PHILOSOPHERS

The Greek philosophers often wrestled with paradoxes.

The most famous was credited to the Cretan philosopher Epimenides: “All Cretans are liars.”

Epimenides was a Cretan. Therefore, If he is lying, then the statement must be true. But if the statement is true, he must be lying.

(Nilsen & Nilsen 219)

PARADOX VS. CONTRADICTION

Paradoxes are statements that seem contradictory, unbelievable, or absurd, but in some sense are nevertheless true.

(Nilsen & Nilsen 219)

SIGNIFICANT PARADOXES FROM THE 16TH CENTURY TO THE 20TH CENTURY

Sits he on ever so high a throne, a man still sits on his bottom. (Michel Elyquem de Montaigne, 1533-1592)

We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. (Jonathan Swift, 1667-1745)

I laugh, so that I may not cry. (Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, 1732-1799)

I laugh, so that I may not cry. (Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, 1732-1799)

Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. (Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900)

!!There ain’t any answer. There ain’t going to be any answer. There never has been an answer. That’s the answer. (Gertrude Stein, 1874-1946)

!!There ain’t any answer. There ain’t going to be any answer. There never has been an answer. That’s the answer. (Gertrude Stein, 1874-1946)

The vital question today is not whether there will be life after death, but whether there was life before death. (Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1990)

Visual Paradox

References:

References:

Brooks, Cleanth. "The Language of Paradox." Contemporary Literary Criticism: Literary and Cultural Studies. Eds. Robert Con Davis, and Ronald Schleifer. New York: Longman, 1989, 32-42.

Falletta, Nicholas. The Paradoxicon. New York, NY: John Wiley, 1983.

Fry, William F., Jr. "Humor and Paradox." American Behavioral Scientist. 30.1 (1987): 42-71.

Gans, Eric. Signs of Paradox, Irony, Resentment, and Other Mimetic Structures Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997.

Hofstadter, Douglas R. Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1980.

Leiber, Justin. Paradoxes. London, England: Duckworth, 1993.

Morreall, John. “Aristotle and the Paradox of Tragedy.” Delta Epsilon Signa Journal 24.2 (1979): 50-56.

Nilsen, Don L. F. "Parody, Paradox, Nonsense, and Legends." Humor Scholarship: A Research Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993, 101-112.

Nilsen, Don L. F. "Parody, Paradox, Nonsense, and Legends." Humor Scholarship: A Research Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993, 101-112.

Nilsen, Don L. F. "'The Seriousness of Humor' And Other Antithetical Paradoxes." California English 20.5 (1984): 14-15 and 22.

Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen. Encyclopedia of 20th Century American Humor. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000.

Rescher, Nicholas. Paradoxes. Peru, IL: Carus Publishing Company, 2001.

Poundstone, William. Labyrinths of Reason: Paradox, Puzzles, and the Frailty of Knowledge. New York: Anchor, 1988.

Seward, Samuel S. Jr. The Paradox of the Ludicrous. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ Press, 1930.

Seward, Samuel S. Jr. The Paradox of the Ludicrous. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ Press, 1930.

Shaw, David W. Elegy and Paradox. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.

Shershow, Scott Cutler. Laughing Matters: The Paradox of Comedy. Amherst: Univ of Mass Press, 1986.

Stainsbury, Richard Mark. Paradoxes. Cambridge, England: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1988.

Woodcock, George. The Paradox of Oscar Wilde. London, England: T. V. Boardman, 1949.