What is the PARADOX

Surely you have heard popular expressions such as "there is no harm that does not come good" or "cheap is expensive". Well, these types of sayings exemplify in a simple and close way a paradox. That is, they give us a statement that may have a contradiction; How can what goes wrong go right? or how something is expensive and cheap at the same time? To resolve these concerns, in this lesson from a TEACHER you will learn what is paradox with examples. You will know their main features, their origin and in what kind of knowledge areas they are commonly used.

Index

1. Definition of paradox
2. Characteristics of the paradox
3. Typology of paradoxes
4. Philosophical origin of the paradox
5. Paradoxes in literature
6. Other examples of paradoxes

First of all, it is worth clarifying what the paradox is. Etymologically they come from the Greek paradox that breaks down into words in order to which means "against" and doxa which means "opinion". This definition tells us that

Paradoxes are classified as literary figures that serves to add beauty, excite or persuade the reader. Specifically the paradoxes are part of the figures of logical thought such as the oxymoron or the antithesis.

In this sense, paradoxes are arguments that expose the incompatibility between two ideas or affirmations. So that we understand it better, a contradiction would be to say "it rains and it does not rain", since we are asserting two incompatible facts. However, paradoxes have a certain complexity and they seek to show contradictions to generate astonishment in the face of reality, they invite us to think abstract ideas or build narrative images.

For example, the two sayings that we mentioned at the beginning look for arouse an unease Y not just equating two incompatible facts. If we take the second example, "cheap is expensive", we will see that it is inviting us to think how to choose those things of lower value we may end up paying a much higher price (because they have flaws, poor quality, easily damaged, etc.). What seemed to contradict itself, leaves us a reflection.

There are various types of paradoxes that depend on its use; however, they all share certain peculiarities. Since we have understood what paradox is, we can now highlight its main features:

• Match two ideas or facts that have an apparent or real contradiction.
• This matching is not done for no reason, but for a purpose.
• The contradiction of a paradox seeks to generate a reflection, thought or image.

Although as such there is no standard typology, paradoxes can be classified according to knowledge area to which they belong. As Fernando Bombal Cordón indicates in his text Paradoxes and rigor: the endless story the use of paradoxes is present both in the great disciplines of the exact sciences and in our day to day: "they appear constantly in our daily lives, either because we discover them ourselves in our daily work, or because we make you see ".

Although each discipline has classified the paradoxes according to their needs, we can highlight that this type of reasoning has been used mainly in four areas of knowledge:

• Literature
• Philosophy
• Mathematical logic
• Physical

Given that this article seeks to highlight the use of paradoxes properly in language, we will delve into paradoxes of the type philosophical (because they first used this figure of thought) and of the type literary.

The use of paradoxes has its origin in Greek philosophy with the Eleatic school, mainly with the paradoxes of Zeno of Elea. The Eleatic school defended the pluralism of the universe and sought to demonstrate the illusion of the senses. Following the philosophy of Parmenides, Zeno developed a series of philosophical problems that have cemented most of the paradoxes that we have to this day.

One of the most famous paradoxes of Zeno of Elea is that of Achilles and the tortoise, which aimed to demonstrate the illusion of the movement of things.

Let's imagine that a race has been arranged between the speedy hero Achilles and a tortoise, an animal known for its slowness. Due to the disadvantage that this represents, Achilles gives the tortoise an advantage of 100 meters.

If we assume that both start running at the same time with a constant speed (Achilles quickly and the tortoise slowly), as the tortoise advances 10 meters, Achilles must have already traveled the 100 meters of advantage. But by that time the tortoise would have already advanced a little further. So Achilles would advance to where the tortoise was before. But this, in turn, had already advanced a little.

With this idea, Zeno sought to represent that Achilles would never be able to reach the tortoise because the space between the two could always be divided. Regardless of how fast Achilles ran, he always had to go first through the previous point where the tortoise had passed, which in turn would be a little further on. By the time Achilles reached this point, the tortoise would have advanced a little further. Achilles should advance there and so on to infinity ...

Although this paradox has already been disproved, it is interesting to note how Zeno I wanted to demonstrate the illusion of the movement with this story. As a curious fact, all of Zeno's texts have been lost, his reflections survived in texts by other philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato. In this case, the story of Achilles and the tortoise is documented in the book of the Aristotle Physics.

Image: Science like never before

Although all disciplines share the main characteristics of paradoxes, in the case of literature these acquire a relevant narrative value. Let's see for example this paradox in the lines of the Spanish poet Gloria Fuertes:

Four thousand millions

my neighbors on earth,

Four thousand millions

and I alone on my roof.

When confronting logic with reality, the paradoxes in poetry and narrative serve to provide us with expressive force the story. They give us license to contrast reality with our feelings and emotions. In the case of the cited poem, Gloria Fuertes contrasts the fact that we are millions of human beings (who technically It would not be logical to think about loneliness because we are surrounded by fellow humans) with the reality of their feeling of loneliness.

Throughout this article we have developed what is paradox with examples both in popular sayings and in Greek philosophy and literature. In closing, we want to share with you a couple of extra examples of paradoxes.

Socrates paradox

In Plato's Apology of Socrates we find the reference to what is popularly known as the saying: "I only know that I know nothing." With a very superficial approach, this expression seeks to emphasize the infinity of knowledge. No matter how much we know and study, we will always be ignorant on various subjects.

Paradox of the avar

"Look at the miser, at his riches, poor man." With a certain moralistic touch, this sentence highlights that even if you have many material goods, greed or avarice makes any person become miserable despite his wealth.

May 68 paradox

With the student movements and the Sorbonne Revolution in May 1968 the slogan "forbidden to ban" became popular. A way of facing authority from its very contradiction. He sought to highlight that all authority is suspect from the paradox of prohibition.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is paradox - With examples, we recommend that you enter our category of Literary concepts.

• Bombal Gordón, F. (2006). Paradox and rigor: the endless story. Madrid: Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences.
• Macho Stadler, M. (2003). Some examples of paradoxes. Basque Country: Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea.
• Vargas Llosa, M. (2009). Forbidden to forbid.