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It was mentioned in a previous thread that there are three absolutely true statements:
1) I exist.
2) I am conscious.
3) Whatever exists has the characteristics that it has.
My problem with them is that the first and third ones appear redundant (which makes them, somewhat, logically useless, IMHO), while the second seems perfectly non-redundant and yet remains flawed.
The first statement is redundant, since the subject "I" has made reference to him/herself and has thus already validated her/his own existence before using the term "exist". The statement is basically (when broken down) "There is an I, and it exists", which is clearly redundant.
The third statement is more obviously redundant since it can be restated as "If something has certain characteristics, it has those characteristics".
However, the second one never made any reference to consciousness, and is thus non-redundant, but still flawed. If I were to program my PC to say "I am conscious", then it would say it, but it would not be true. Since, the subject of consciousness is rather delicate, perhaps the illustration of a tape recorder is better...but the result is the same: This statement can be false.
Any corrections, comments, and (I hope) more examples of absolutely true statements, are appreciated.
1) I exist.
2) I am conscious.
3) Whatever exists has the characteristics that it has.
My problem with them is that the first and third ones appear redundant (which makes them, somewhat, logically useless, IMHO), while the second seems perfectly non-redundant and yet remains flawed.
The first statement is redundant, since the subject "I" has made reference to him/herself and has thus already validated her/his own existence before using the term "exist". The statement is basically (when broken down) "There is an I, and it exists", which is clearly redundant.
The third statement is more obviously redundant since it can be restated as "If something has certain characteristics, it has those characteristics".
However, the second one never made any reference to consciousness, and is thus non-redundant, but still flawed. If I were to program my PC to say "I am conscious", then it would say it, but it would not be true. Since, the subject of consciousness is rather delicate, perhaps the illustration of a tape recorder is better...but the result is the same: This statement can be false.
Any corrections, comments, and (I hope) more examples of absolutely true statements, are appreciated.