07 October 2010

Incontrovertible logic

I fire two shots and kill Cristabel. The first bullet strikes her brain, killing her immediately. The second bullet lodges in her heart: it would have killed her, had she not already died because of the first bullet. I argue that I did no serious harm. Bearing in mind what the second bullet would have done, the first bullet merely caused Cristabel the loss of one second of life — hardly serious. The second bullet, of course, did not kill her.
– Peter Cave, This Sentence Is False, 2009

Found while rummaging in the Futility Closet.

2 comments:

  1. The first event is defined in relation to the second. Yet, the second event is defined in relation to the first one. Circular logic is easy to bend.

    Net effect, Cristabel is dead. If anyone wants to try and argue the above in court, keep us updated ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Whatever the case, he better pee on his hand and wipe the gun down immediately after this.

    ReplyDelete

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