Difference between revisions of "Russell's Paradox"
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| − | '''Russell's Paradox''', | + | The '''Russell's Paradox''', credited to Bertrand Russell, was one of those which forced the axiomatization of set theory. |
==Paradox== | ==Paradox== | ||
Revision as of 06:32, 25 November 2007
The Russell's Paradox, credited to Bertrand Russell, was one of those which forced the axiomatization of set theory.
Paradox
We start with the property 
: (
does not belong to ). We define 
to be the collection of all with the property . Now comes the question: does have the property ? Assuming it does, it cannot be in itself, in spite of satisfying its own membership criterion, a contradiction. Assuming it doesn't, it must be in itself, in spite of not satisfying its own membership criterion. This is the paradox.
