What is The Inescapable Consequence Paradox? Imagine you are walking through a maze. No matter which path you take, you always end up at the same exit. This is like The Inescapable Consequence Paradox. It’s a tricky idea that says sometimes decisions or events have one single result, no matter what choices are made. Imagine you’re choosing a dessert. Whether you pick cake or ice cream,... »
What is The Unattainable Ideal Paradox? The Unattainable Ideal Paradox is like chasing the end of a rainbow. No matter how hard you try, you just can’t quite reach it. It’s the idea that we set up a perfect goal or dream in our minds – the ideal – that is so high, it’s actually impossible to achieve. This creates a puzzle or a ‘paradox’ because while we wo... »
What is The Unachievable Goal Paradox? Think about setting a goal for yourself, something you really want to achieve. Now, imagine if that goal was something you could never actually accomplish, no matter how hard you tried. That’s what we call the Unachievable Goal Paradox. It’s when you have a goal that sounds good, but is set up in a way that makes reaching it impossible. For exampl... »
What is The Unjustifiable Belief Paradox? The Unjustifiable Belief Paradox is a tricky concept that gets us thinking hard about why we believe what we do. Imagine you have to trust in something, but you can’t find any strong reasons or proof that it’s true. This could be about right and wrong, or even whether the world around us is real. The paradox makes us wonder how we can be sure of anyt... »
What is The Unfalsifiable Hypothesis Paradox? Imagine someone tells you a story about a dragon that breathes not fire, but invisible, heatless fire. You grab a thermometer to test the claim but no matter what, you can’t prove it’s not true because you can’t measure something that’s invisible and has no heat. This is what we call an ‘unfalsifiable hypothesis’—it&... »
What is The Unprovable Assertion Paradox? The Unprovable Assertion Paradox deals with the tricky problem of trying to prove statements that say they cannot be proven. Think of this paradox like a playground game: if the rule is that every player must touch the base to be safe, but there’s one special spot that says “if you touch me, you’re not safe,” then what happens when ... »
What is The Unobservable Reality Paradox? The Unobservable Reality Paradox is like a challenging riddle that makes us question the world we live in. It suggests that there are things in our universe that we simply cannot see or measure, no matter how hard we try. Imagine trying to listen to a sound that’s too quiet for the human ear or trying to see a color that’s outside of the rainbo... »
What is The Unknowable Truth Paradox? The Unknowable Truth Paradox deals with a very tricky idea. Picture this: there’s something that’s true, but no one can ever find out if it’s true. It’s like having a secret that stays hidden forever. The first simple definition goes like this: if something is true but no one in the world can ever know it, not even in a thousand years, ... »
What is the Infallible Authority Paradox? Imagine someone who is never wrong – a teacher, a book, or even a law that is always right no matter what. Now imagine what happens if this person or thing says something that doesn’t match with what another never-wrong source says. This situation, where an authority that is supposed to always be right appears to be wrong or disagrees with anot... »
Defining The Selfish Altruist Paradox The Selfish Altruist Paradox is kind of like a riddle about why we do nice things for others. We call someone an “altruist” when they do stuff just to help people, not to get something in return. But the “selfish” part comes in when it looks like the person might also be helping themselves by being nice. Some folks argue that when we do... »