Paradox Definition?

Question

What exactly is a paradox in simple words?

Answer 1

a paradox is something that if completely true makes it impossible to be true, something that contradicts itself, like "every word I say is a lie" or "this sentence is false"

Answer 2

First, a paradox by its very nature cannot be resolved. In short, there is not an "answer" to it. One prior answerer put that "Jumbo shrimp" is a paradox, but that is a mistake. Such a notion is called an oxymoron. The easiest way to understand paradox is through one of the most famous ones--the Liar's paradox (which other before me have mentioned). If we slightly change it, we can make it more clear. Imagine the following on a test at school.

1) "This statement is false"--Is this previously quoted statement "true" or "false"?

If you say it is "true" then given what the sentence says, it must be "false". HOWEVER
If you say it is "false" then given what the sentence says, it must be "true"

Thus, you cannot easily resolve it. That is what makes it a paradox.

Answer 3

A paradox is a situation that arises when 2 or more ideas that are true seemingly cannot both be true, because they contradict each other.

Answer 4

A Paradox is something that contradicts itself..example Jumbo shrimp.

Answer 5

A paradox is when you choose to maintain two beliefs that are in conflict with one another.

The most familiar are time paradoxes. if you go back in time and kill your grandparent, you would never be born, yet you exist to go back in time. (The grandfather paradox.)

This suggests though, that how we conceptualize time is wrong.

Answer 6

It is two situations, or statements that don't match, or in other words creates an inconstancy that doesn't work.