There is that , and then there's :
in Robert Louis Stevenson's "bottle imp paradox," in which you are offered the opportunity to buy, for whatever price you wish, a bottle containing a genie who will fulfill your every desire. The only catch is that the bottle must thereafter be resold for a price smaller than what you paid for it, or you will be condemned to live out the rest of your days in excruciating torment. Obviously, no one would buy the bottle for 1� since he would have to give the bottle away, but no one would accept the bottle knowing he would be unable to get rid of it. Similarly, no one would buy it for 2�, and so on. However, for some reasonably large amount, it will always be possible to find a next buyer, so the bottle will be bought (Paulos 1995).
They are both, supposedly, examples of Sorites Paradox :
Sorites paradoxes are a class of paradoxical arguments also known as little-by-little arguments. The name "sorites" derives from the Greek
word soros, meaning "pile" or "heap." Sorites paradoxes are exemplified by the problem that a single grain of wheat does not comprise a heap, nor do two grains of wheat, three grains of wheat, etc. However, at some point, the collection of grains becomes large enough to be called a heap, but there is apparently no definite point where this occurs.
[ February 16, 2004: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]
