Paradox

358 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PARADOXanalytic and synthetic statements. An analytic statement owesits truth-value to the meanings of its words. For instance, “Youcan receive an unbirthday present on most days of the year”is made true by Humpty Dumpty’s definition of an unbirthdaypresent in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass. Incontrast, synthetic statements owe their truth-values to theworld. “About nine million people share your birthday” ismade true by the present population and the law of averages.The analytic/synthetic distinction was first explicitly drawnby Kant. It was almost universally accepted by philosophersuntil Quine’s article “Two dogmas of empiricism.” He madethe distinction controversial by dwelling on the unclarities ofthe boundary between what is made true by meaning andwhat is made true by contingent facts.Some readers may suspect that my riddle theory of paradoxesquines Quine’s distinction between veridical and falsidicalparadoxes. If paradoxes are questions, they cannot be trueor false. They cannot be proved or refuted. After all, riddles canbe neither believed nor disbelieved. The only direct kind ofabsurdity these riddles manifest is their overabundance of goodanswers. But remember that on my question-based account,answers to paradoxes can be true or false.Quine’s definition of paradox implies that whereverthere is a paradox, there is an argument for an absurdconclusion. The next two sections present counterexamplesto Quine’s implication that all paradoxes are absurdities.RADICAL TRANSLATIONAfter the United States entered World War II, Quine left hisfellowship at Harvard to become a Navy code breaker. He