The Noble Liar's Paradox?

Frazer, Michael L. (2015) The Noble Liar's Paradox? Perspectives on Political Science, 44 (3). pp. 159-161. ISSN 1045-7097

Microsoft Word (The Noble Liar's Paradox) - Accepted Version Download (35kB)

Abstract

Arthur Melzer deserves considerable credit for amassing a remarkable collection of evidence that most pre-modern and early modern philosophers wrote that esotericism was widely practiced. It does not follow, however, that esotericism was actually as widely practiced as these authors claim it was. If we are to take esotericism seriously, we must consider the possibility that these discussions of esotericism are themselves written esoterically. Considering this possibility raises puzzles related to, but distinct from, the classical conundrum of the liar’s paradox. Despite the difficulty of these puzzles, there is no evading the fact that, under Melzer’s own account of esotericism, philosophers have a wide variety of reasons to write about esotericism esoterically. These reasons apply, not only to the authors that Melzer discusses, but also to Melzer himself.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	arthur melzer,leo strauss,quentin skinner,esoteric writing,esotericism,liar's paradox,epimenides
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Policy & Politics Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Political, Social and International Studies Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Cultural Politics, Communications & Media
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	09 Feb 2016 10:00
Last Modified:	09 Mar 2024 00:56
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/57004
DOI:	10.1080/10457097.2015.1038460

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item