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Paradox

R.Sorensen - A Brief History of the Paradox

R.Sorensen - A Brief History of the Paradox

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T W E N T Y - T H R E EWittgenstein andthe Depth of aGrammatical JokeThe problems arising through a misinterpretation of ourforms of language have the character of depth. They aredeep disquietudes; their roots are as deep in us as the formsof our language and their significance is as great as theimportance of our language.—Let us ask ourselves: whydo we feel a grammatical joke to be deep? (And that iswhat the depth of philosophy is.)(Wittgenstein 1958, 111)The logician and mathematician, Reverend Charles Dodgson,better known by his pseudonym, Lewis Carroll, is famousfor his linguistic humor. In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,the Duck inquires in vain for the referent of “it” in theMouse’s lecture: “Stigand, the patriotic archbishop of Canter-

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