The Grelling-Nelson Paradox
Is the word "heterological" heterological? Either answer generates a contradiction.
19087 min read
German neo-Kantian philosophy
Leonard Nelson
1882 – 1927
German neo-Kantian philosopher who revived the Friesian school and applied rigorous logical methods to ethical and epistemological questions. In 1908, with Kurt Grelling, he published the paradox about self-describing words that bears both their names. Nelson's broader philosophical project was to ground ethics in reason without dogmatic metaphysics; he founded the Philosophisch- Politische Akademie, a school that combined rigorous philosophy with progressive political commitment.