2025/01/22 by Peter van Elswyk · 1 voice
Computer Science · Social Sciences · #Library Science and Information Systems #Intellectual Property Law
paper · doi:10.3998/phimp.6308
openalex publication_date 2025/01/22 · openalex created_date 2025/01/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01
Sentences like ⌜δ is indescribable⌝ appear to state that the speaker is unable to do what the speaker just did. This is known as the PARADOX OF INEFFABILITY. An explanation for how such sentences can be true is widely thought to be a pre-requisite for showing the coherence of ineffability. This paper offers a dissolution of the paradox. I argue that the relevant sentences are always false. However, I show that the falsity of such sentences does not entail that ineffability is incoherent. That ⌜δ is indescribable⌝ can never be truthfully said does not entail that ineffability cannot be coherently explicated.