Calvus (philosophy)
Calvus ( Latin : bald , bald ) is one of the paradoxes of Eubulides (4th century BC), consisting of the question: How much hair do you have to pull out of someone in order to become bald?
The paradox is similar to the Sorites argument and is a fuzzy set problem . Similar to Sorites, the question is unanswerable or paradoxical because there is no precise definition of how much hair a person must have in order to be (not) bald. It is based on the assumption that a single hair cannot decide whether it is bald or not. But if you pull out one hair at a time, the change would ultimately be caused by a single hair. In fact, as with the heap paradox, the paradox lies in the fact that an exact definition is sought and applied for a colloquial, not clearly definable term (in this case bare ).
literature
- Diog.Laert. II § 108
Individual evidence
- ↑ Calvus in Kirchner / Michaelis: Dictionary of basic philosophical terms; 1907
- ↑ Calvus . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 3, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 747.
- ↑ Article Calvus from Eisler: Dictionary of philosophical terms
- ^ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich; Lectures on the history of philosophy; Page 405; My publisher; 1996; ISBN 3787307826