logic & reasoning · new to this edition
the heap
remove one grain at a time from a heap of sand. when does it stop being a heap?
The paradox of the heap is more than two thousand years old, and is credited to the Greek logician Eubulides. It rests on two claims that look beyond doubt: a hundred grains of sand make a heap, and removing a single grain from a heap never turns it into a non-heap. Put them together, repeat enough times, and a single grain is a heap. Instead of arguing, run it. You will make three judgments, and the interesting question is whether you give the same answer each time.
Start with 100 grains arranged in a pile. Remove grains until you would no longer call what is left a heap, then press the button.
further reading
- the sorites paradox stanford encyclopedia of philosophy
- vagueness stanford encyclopedia of philosophy
- vagueness without paradox original paper
- sorites paradox wikipedia