Theos-Talk Archives (August 1997 Message tl00556)

Vincent wrote:

>Absolute truth can be about finite things. The last word in this
>sentence is sentence. That is absolutely true, but doesn't mean much.

This is like the liar's paradox, which says something like "this
statement is a lie."  The problem with statements such as these is
that they have no definite referent.  To which sentence are you
referring?  If the sentence in "the last word in this sentence is
sentence" to which you are referring is "the last word in this
sentence is sentence," then the sentence must be changed to read "the
last word in the sentence "the last word in this sentence is sentence"
is sentence.  But then you have the same problem all over again, and,
in an attempt to have a definite referent, you must add another "the
last word in this sentence is sentence," only to have the same
problem, infinitely, always having the same part of it being
indeterminate.  There is no such thing as a completely
self-referential statement.