20 December 2012, Logic Tea, Thomas Brouwer

Abstract

Some philosophers of logic have extolled the benefits of taking as a primitive notion not only the propositional attitude of acceptance (and the speech act of assertion that expresses it) but also the propositional attitude of rejection (and the speech act of denial that expresses it). In this paper, I use these notions to generate a paradox akin to the liar paradox, which focuses on rationality rather than truth and lacks obvious (analogues of) gappy or glutty solutions. I discuss different philosophical responses to this 'rejecter paradox', suggesting that we should learn to live with a modicum of unavoidable irrationality and that (perhaps surprisingly) this is something we can live with.

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