Paradoxes

[Lucifer1904]

1. The ship of Theseus Paradox
-You have a ship when an old piece begins to rot you replace it with a new piece and place the old one in a shed. Eventually you have a ship made of all new pieces of wood. You build the same ship with the old pieces of wood. Which one is the original?
2. The Omnipotence Paradox
-If God is the most powerful being in the universe the he could make a rock so large that he could not even lift it. If he is the most powerful being then shouldn't he be able to lift it?
3. The Unexpected Hanging
-A judge tells a condemned prisoner that he will be hanged at noon on one weekday in the following week but that the execution will be a surprise to the prisoner. He will not know the day of the hanging until the executioner knocks on his cell door at noon that day.
Having reflected on his sentence, the prisoner draws the conclusion that he will escape from the hanging. His reasoning is in several parts. He begins by concluding that the "surprise hanging" can't be on Friday, as if he hasn't been hanged by Thursday, there is only one day left - and so it won't be a surprise if he's hanged on Friday. Since the judge's sentence stipulated that the hanging would be a surprise to him, he concludes it cannot occur on Friday.
He then reasons that the surprise hanging cannot be on Thursday either, because Friday has already been eliminated and if he hasn't been hanged by Wednesday noon, the hanging must occur on Thursday, making a Thursday hanging not a surprise either. By similar reasoning he concludes that the hanging can also not occur on Wednesday, Tuesday or Monday. Joyfully he retires to his cell confident that the hanging will not occur at all.
What day as he executed on?

 

[DeletedUser24787]

What day as he executed on?

today , this is my confession

 

[DeletedUser3679]

The Unexpected Hanging
-A judge tells a condemned prisoner that he will be hanged at noon on one weekday in the following week but that the execution will be a surprise to the prisoner. He will not know the day of the hanging until the executioner knocks on his cell door at noon that day.
Having reflected on his sentence, the prisoner draws the conclusion that he will escape from the hanging. His reasoning is in several parts. He begins by concluding that the "surprise hanging" can't be on Friday, as if he hasn't been hanged by Thursday, there is only one day left - and so it won't be a surprise if he's hanged on Friday. Since the judge's sentence stipulated that the hanging would be a surprise to him, he concludes it cannot occur on Friday.
He then reasons that the surprise hanging cannot be on Thursday either, because Friday has already been eliminated and if he hasn't been hanged by Wednesday noon, the hanging must occur on Thursday, making a Thursday hanging not a surprise either. By similar reasoning he concludes that the hanging can also not occur on Wednesday, Tuesday or Monday. Joyfully he retires to his cell confident that the hanging will not occur at all.
What day as he executed on?

Any day but Friday. Having eliminated all the days with his reasoning, he would be surprised on any day but Friday.

 

[Lucifer1904]

Any day but Friday. Having eliminated all the days with his reasoning, he would be surprised on any day but Friday.

He was executed on Wednesday - If you read carefully it said Noon on a weekday of the following week. Half way into the weekdays is Wednesday.

 

[DeletedUser24787]

1)The paradox breaks this intuition by constructing a duplicate from the old parts. So one answer is that the concept of identity fails because it includes assumptions that are not guaranteed to be true.

2) This paradox is a remnant of magical-theological thinking. If you’re going to start with a premise “a thing is supernatural and unbeholden to any physical rules or laws” nothing you say next on the matter is meaningful. This “paradox” is really just an illustration of why the idea makes no sense. Unlike some paradoxes (e.g. Zeno’s), there is no physical evidence as a premise nor any reason we should entertain the idea as true.

3)This is a cheat-y paradox. It relies on the psychological belief of the convict, which the judge could not possibly know in advance, making his prediction sheer magic, or arbitrary premise of the paradox. If the convict has heard of the paradox before the sentencing or simply knows the judge has a knack for game-playing, then the paradox falls apart because the convict would know the judge is game-playing and apt to ignore logical evaluation or use it as a deception device. If the convict can’t reason about the psychology of the judge, then it is equally wrong for the judge to be reasoning (exploiting) the psychology of the convict. If they can both consider the psychology of the other, the paradox fails.

i would like to thank edward clint for the answers posted to these from a article
SHORT ANSWERS TO TEN FAMOUS PARADOXES