a reader (who's a lawyer) asks:

Someone says, "I didn't taste the soup. I did taste the soup." That statement is nonsense, and it's a simple self-contradiction. Either part can be true, but not both.

Someone else says, "I didn't taste the soup, because it is too salty." This too is nonsense, but it's not merely a self-contradiction. His opinion of saltiness may be correct or incorrect, but the mere fact that he has an opinion disproves the claim that he hasn't tasted the soup. The statement is paradoxical, somewhat like "I am asleep," or "The village barber shaves everyone who doesn't shave himself."

Is there a name for this sort of paradox?


I'd say no, but what do I know of paradoxes.