Imagine the Classified Ads section of a publication. Buyers and sellers place advertisements for violins, cars, horses, services, furniture, clothing, and so on.
The publisher organizes the ads into classifications such as Auto, Clothing, Furniture, Musical Instruments, Services, etc.
But there are always a few ads that don’t fit the existing classification scheme, e.g., “For sale: souvenir rock from a Namibian beach” or “Wanted: Left-handed scissors.”
The publisher could devise new categories but decides instead to have a miscellaneous one called “Unclassified” and puts the unusual items into it.
So: Do we have a pair of paradoxes?
(1) The Classified section contains an Unclassified category.
(2) The Unclassified section contains ads that have in fact been classified.
I can’t remember where I got this quote, I believe it was from Robert Heinlein, so I’ll have to paraphrase:
“There’s no such thing as a paradox. If you think you’ve found one, examine your assumptions.”
Stephen, Neil,
I’ve always felt, with Heinlein, that paradoxes don’t exist.
‘Unclassified’ means ‘Items in categories other than the foregoing ones.’ Readers understand what’s meant, so I give it a pass. The Talmud has the categories ‘to start out with’ and ‘once already done’.