Talk:Buridan's bridge

A fact from Buridan's bridge appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 22 February 2011 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that a humorous solution for the Buridan's bridge sophism is that Plato should let Socrates cross the bridge and then throw him into the river on the other side?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2011/February.

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[Untitled][edit]

This is not a proper paradox even if we must assume that being thrown in the water and being allowed to cross the bridge are mutually exclusive (so throwing someone in the water involves not letting them cross the bridge and letting them cross the bridge means they won't be thrown in the water). If this assumption doesn't apply, there's a simple solution which involves doing both.

But even when we make that assumption, there is still no paradox here to resolve: if Plato doesn't throw Socrates into the water, Plato lied about that, and if Plato does throw him into the water, he lied about letting him cross the bridge. If he doesn't do either, he lied about both. The only issue is for Plato, because his actions will determine what he lied about (and whether Socrates lied too). So, not a paradox; merely a dilemma. Djvyd (talk) 22:15, 29 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

What's so difficult?[edit]

"Socrates' response puts Plato in a difficult situation" - What's so difficult? All Socrates has to do is speak the truth to cross. He can say one of a million truths and then cross.