Situations and the Liar Paradoxes

Abstract

In this paper we intend to outline an introduction to Situation Theory as an approach to the liar paradoxes. This idea was first presented by the work of Barwise and Etchemendy (in their (1987)). First (section 1) we introduce the paradoxes in their most appealing and important versions. Second (section 2) we show that non-classical approaches on the problem usually get puzzled by the revenge problem on one side and loss of expressive power on the other side. Last (sections 3 and 4), we present Situation Theory and try to show how it is capable of solving the old paradoxes and blocking revenge. The price we pay on this view is universality, since it would allow a new revenge situated liar. We don’t intend to address the problem of universality here, but we try at least to motivate the reader to make sense of this theory.