What is the Paradox of Hedonism? The Paradox of Hedonism, or the Pleasure Paradox, is the idea that the more you try to grab happiness by chasing pleasure, the more it seems to slip away. Imagine trying to catch a cloud by jumping as high as you can—it’s just not going to happen. Instead of getting happier, you might end up feeling less happy. It’s sort of like when you want a butterfl... »
What is the Sorites Paradox? The Sorites Paradox is a mind-bending problem in philosophy that deals with vague ideas. Have you ever considered when exactly something stops being “tall” or “short”? What about the specific moment something goes from “hot” to “cold” or “light” to “dark”? The Sorites Paradox looks at these blurry ... »
Understanding the Paradox of Tolerance The Paradox of Tolerance can be a bit difficult to understand at first, but let’s break it down. Imagine you have a friend who is super nice and lets people do pretty much whatever they want. That’s like a tolerant society. But suppose some people start being mean to others, and because your friend wants to be nice to everyone, they don’t st... »
What is the Paradox of Fiction? Have you ever cried during a sad movie, or felt scared when a character in a book is in danger? This happens to most of us. We feel real emotions for made-up stories and the people in them, but we know those stories and characters aren’t real. This is what we call the Paradox of Fiction—why do we feel these strong feelings for things we know are just pretend? ... »
What is the Lottery Paradox? The Lottery Paradox is a puzzling issue that makes us scratch our heads when we think about what we say we know and what we believe to be true. Here’s a simple way to understand this paradox: Let’s say your school is having a raffle where you know the winning chance for each ticket is super slim. On one hand, you think, “None of these tickets is going... »
What is the Doomsday Argument? The Doomsday Argument is a thought-provoking idea that tries to guess when humans might no longer exist based on math and the idea that we are probably not living in a very special time in human history. It’s like trying to figure out when a party will end based on knowing that you arrived at a pretty average time—not too early, not too late. Here’s anoth... »
What is Descartes’ Evil Demon? Think of a scenario where everything you are sure about in life is actually a trick. A powerful, mean creature has made you believe a false world is real. This isn’t just an idea from a movie but comes from a smart French philosopher from the 1600s named René Descartes. He called this the “Evil Demon,” but some people might know it as the “Evi... »
What is The Gettier Problem? Imagine you’re certain about something because you have good reasons, and it turns out you’re right. But then someone shows you that your reasons were actually based on a mistake. Does that still count as truly ‘knowing’ something? The Gettier Problem is a tricky question from the world of philosophy that asks just that. It puts a spotlight on w... »
What Is The Speckled Hen Paradox? The Speckled Hen Paradox is a famous problem that philosophers talk about to understand how we know things and what counts as knowledge. Imagine looking at a hen with a bunch of small, colored spots – those are the speckles. Now, the tricky question is, can you know how many speckles are on the hen just by looking at it? To explain it simply, let’s take two ... »
What is The Paradox Of The Court? A paradox is a situation that doesn’t seem to make sense because it has two opposite things that should not be able to happen at the same time. The Paradox of the Court is a bit like that. Think of it as a very confusing puzzle involving a teacher, his student, and a promise about payment. Simply put, the Paradox of the Court is a tricky problem that comes f... »