The "Liar" Paradox and Epicurus' Response

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    The Liar Paradox ("This statement is false")

    The Liar Paradox was a favorite of the Megarians (attributed to Eubulides). Epicurus famously dismissed it as not worth serious engagement — essentially calling it a verbal trick rather than a genuine logical problem. Cicero reports that he was criticized for this dismissiveness, but Epicurus held that the Canon grounds truth in relation to real objects of cognition, and a self-referential sentence with no object in the world simply falls outside the scope of genuine inquiry. His critics (especially the Stoics) thought this showed ignorance of logic; Epicurus would have said it showed wisdom about what logic is actually for.

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