Eubulides

2025-03-18T19:12:57Z

77.236.206.241: Changed the erroneous rough breathing mark to smooth breathing

{{Short description|4th-century BCE Greek philosopher}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| name = Eubulides
| image = Vaticano 2011 (88) Eubulides.JPG
| native_name = Εὐβουλίδης
| birth_date = fl. 4th Century BCE
| era = [[Ancient philosophy]]
| region = [[Ancient Greek philosophy]]
| school_tradition = [[Megarian school]]
| notable_students = [[Demosthenes]] [[Apollonius Cronus]] [[Euphantus]] [[Alexinus]]
| main_interests = [[Paradoxes]]
| notable_ideas = [[Liar paradox]] [[Sorites paradox]]
| influences = [[Euclid of Megara]]
| influenced = [[Diodorus Cronus]], [[Chrysippus]], Aulus Gellius
}}

'''Eubulides''' ({{langx|el|Εὐβουλίδης}}; fl. 4th century BCE) of [[Miletus]] was a [[philosopher]] of the [[Megarian school]] who is famous for his [[paradoxes]].

==Life==
According to [[Diogenes Laërtius]], Eubulides was a pupil of [[Euclid of Megara]],{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=108}} the founder of the [[Megarian school]]. He was a contemporary of [[Aristotle]], against whom he wrote with great bitterness.{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=109}}<ref>Athenaeus, viii, 50 354c; Aristocles, in Eusebius ''[[Praeparatio Evangelica]]'' xv. 2</ref> He taught logic to [[Demosthenes]],<ref>Plutarch, ''Vit. X Orat.''; Apuleius, ''Orat. de Mag.''; Photius, ''Bibliotheca'', 265</ref> and he is also said to have taught [[Apollonius Cronus]], the teacher of [[Diodorus Cronus]], and the historian [[Euphantus]].{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=110}}{{sfn|Smith|1870}}

==Paradoxes of Eubulides==
Eubulides is most famous for inventing the forms of seven famous [[paradoxes]],{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=108}} some of which, however, are also ascribed to [[Diodorus Cronus]]:{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=111}}
# [[Liar paradox|The Liar (''pseudomenos'') paradox]]: A man says: "What I am saying now is a [[lie]]." If the statement is true, then he is lying, even though the statement is true. If the statement is a lie, then he is not actually lying, even though the statement is a lie. Thus, if the speaker is lying, he tells the truth, and vice versa.
# The Masked Man (''enkekalymmenos'') paradox: "Do you know this masked man?" "No." "But he is your father. So – do you not know your own father?"
# The Electra (''Elektra'') paradox: [[Electra]] doesn't know that the man approaching her is her brother, [[Orestes (mythology)|Orestes]]. Electra knows her brother. Does Electra know the man who is approaching?
# The Overlooked Man (''dialanthanôn'') paradox: Alpha ignored the man approaching him and treated him as a stranger. The man was his father. Did Alpha ignore his own father and treat him as a stranger?
# [[Sorites paradox|The Heap (''sôritês'') paradox]]: A single grain of sand is certainly not a heap. Nor is the addition of a single grain of sand enough to transform a non-heap into a heap: when we have a collection of grains of sand that is not a heap, then adding but one single grain will not create a heap. And yet we know that at some point we will have a heap.
# The Bald Man (''phalakros'') paradox: A man with a full head of hair is obviously not bald. Now the removal of a single hair will not turn a non-bald man into a bald one. And yet it is obvious that a continuation of that process must eventually result in baldness.
# The Horns (''keratinês'') paradox: What you have not lost, you have. But you have not lost horns. Therefore, you have horns.

The first paradox ([[Liar paradox|the Liar]]) is probably the most famous, and is similar to the famous paradox of [[Epimenides paradox|Epimenides the Cretan]]. The second, third and fourth paradoxes are variants of a single paradox and relate to the problem of what it means to "know" something and the identity of objects involved in an affirmation (compare the [[masked-man fallacy]]). The fifth and sixth paradoxes are also a single paradox and is usually thought to relate to the vagueness of language.{{sfn|Hyde|2018}} The final paradox, the horns, is a paradox related to [[presupposition]].{{sfn|Bobzien|2012|p=166}}

==Legacy==
These paradoxes were very well known in ancient times, some are alluded to by Eubulides' contemporary [[Aristotle]]<ref>Aristotle, ''Sophistici Elenchi'', 24, 25, 22.</ref> and even partially by [[Plato]].<ref>Plato, ''Euthydemus'', Theaetetus.</ref>{{sfn|Smith|1870}} [[Chrysippus]], the [[Stoicism|Stoic]] philosopher wrote about the paradoxes developed by Eubulides and characterized the Horns paradox as an intractable problem (aporoi logoi).{{sfn|Bobzien|2012|p=166}} [[Aulus Gellius]] mentions how the discussion of such paradoxes was considered (for him) after-dinner entertainment at the [[Saturnalia]],<ref>Aulus Gellius, xviii. 2. 9.</ref> but [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], on the other hand, considered them a waste of time: "Not to know them does no harm, and mastering them does no good."<ref>Seneca, ''Epistles'', 45. 8.</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|32em}}

==Ancient primary sources==
* {{cite LotEP |chapter=Euclides |§=108-111}}

==References==
* {{cite SEP |date=2011 |url-id=dialectical-school |title=Dialectical School |last=Bobzien |first=Susanne}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Bobzien |first1=Susanne |title=How to give someone Horns: Paradoxes of Presupposition in Antiquity |journal=History of Philosophy and Logical Analysis |date=5 April 2012 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=159–184 |doi=10.30965/26664275-01501007 |url=https://philarchive.org/go.pl?id=BOBHTG&proxyId=&u=https%3A%2F%2Fphilpapers.org%2Farchive%2FBOBHTG.pdf |access-date=23 June 2023}}
* {{cite SEP |date=2020 |url-id=logic-ancient |title=Ancient Logic |last=Bobzien |first=Susanne}}
* {{cite SEP |date=2021 |url-id=paradoxes-contemporary-logic |title=Paradoxes and Contemporary Logic |author-last1=Cantini | author-first1=Andrea |last2=Bruni |first2=Riccardo }}
* {{cite SEP |date=2018 |url-id=sorites-paradox |title=Sorites Paradox |last=Hyde |first=Dominic}}
* [[Rescher]], N. (2001) ''Paradoxes: Their Roots, Range, and Resolution.'' Open Court Publishing.
* Seuren, P. A. M. (2005) ''Eubulides as a 20th-century semanticist''. Language Sciences, 27(1), 75–95.
* {{cite DGRBM | title = Eubilides | url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Deubulides-bio-4}}
* Wheeler, S. C. (1983) ''Megarian Paradoxes as Eleatic Arguments'', American Philosophical Quarterly, 20 (3), 287–295.

{{Megarian philosophy}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:4th-century BC Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek philosophers of language]]
[[Category:Ancient Milesians]]
[[Category:Megarian philosophers]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Philosophers of ancient Ionia]]

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Eubulides