Dictionary.

[Forward Union]

I found the word Dictionary in my dictionary and am deeply concerned by the philosophical implications of a book defining its own existance...

[Hit The North]

:lol:

Very droll.

You should let Led Zeppelin know - he's the resident existentialist.

BTW, it's the quality of the joke which keeps this thread out of the trashcan.

[Decolonize The Left]

I found the word Dictionary in my dictionary and am deeply concerned by the philosophical implications of a book defining its own existance...

Do we human beings not define our own existence?

- August

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

On the other hand, if your dictionary did not have an entry for 'dictionary', you could claim your money back since your copy would plainly be defective.

In fact this is mildly reminiscent of Russell's Paradox:

http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/par-russ.htm

Consider bibliographies: books that list other books.

But, what about bibliographies of bibliographies -- books that list books that list books?

There are two sorts of bibliographies of bibliographies: those that list all and only those bibliographies that list themselves, and those that list all and only those bibliographies that do not list themselves.

Call the first sort: Biblio-A, and the second sort Biblio-B.

The trouble is, do Biblio-Bs list themselves, or not?

If they do not, then they should, for Biblio-Bs list all bibliographies that do not list themselves.

On the other hand, if they do, then they shouldn't, for Biblio-Bs only list those that do not list themselves.

Either way, we get paradox.

More details here:

http://atkinson.fmns.rug.nl/public_html/russell.html

[gilhyle]

it's the quality of the joke which keeps this thread out of the trashcan.

:)