[FOM] Diagonalization and Self-Reference

[Dean Buckner]

"The Cretan Liar".  He might have written "This proposition is false"
instead of "I am lying".  The answer would be: "Very well, but which
proposition do you mean?" - "Well, _this_ proposition".  "I understand, but
which is the proposition mentioned in it?" - "This one" - "Good, and which
proposition does _it_ refer to?" and so on.  Thus he would be unable to
explain what he means until he passes to a complete proposition.  - We may
also say: The fundamental error lies in one's thinking that a phrase e.g.
"this proposition" can as it were allude to its object (point to it from far
off) without having to go proxy for it.    [Zettel, 691]

Thus Heck might have written:

    The next proposition is true iff the previous proposition is false.

Very well, Richard, but which propositions do you mean?  "Well, this one and
that one" - "But what are the propositions mentioned in them" &c &c.



Dean Buckner
London
ENGLAND

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