A Paradox of Unacceptability and an "Unacceptable" Equivocation

This paper presents, and solves, a new paradox of unacceptability. Inspired by a recent argument by Bradley Armour-Garb and James Woodbridge, my generalisation of their reasoning, if valid, shows that anyone who takes any sentence whatsoever to be unacceptable is committed to contradiction. I then show how to solve the paradox, by arguing that the reasoning in question equivocates on the word ‘unacceptable’. Those who think my solution works will learn something about how (not) to reason about acceptability, with important consequences for our evaluation of arguments in the philosophy of truth. Those who disagree will have a new paradox to grapple with.

Publication Details

Journal
White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York)
Published
2025-11-19
Primary Topic
Lepidoptera: Biology and Taxonomy
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

A Paradox of Unacceptability and an "Unacceptable" Equivocation

White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York)
Lepidoptera: Biology and Taxonomy
article

A Paradox of Unacceptability and an "Unacceptable" Equivocation

article en

Abstract

This paper presents, and solves, a new paradox of unacceptability. Inspired by a recent argument by Bradley Armour-Garb and James Woodbridge, my generalisation of their reasoning, if valid, shows that anyone who takes any sentence whatsoever to be unacceptable is committed to contradiction. I then show how to solve the paradox, by arguing that the reasoning in question equivocates on the word ‘unacceptable’. Those who think my solution works will learn something about how (not) to reason about acceptability, with important consequences for our evaluation of arguments in the philosophy of truth. Those who disagree will have a new paradox to grapple with.

White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York)
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 39%
Lepidoptera: Biology and Taxonomy
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A Paradox of Unacceptability and an "Unacceptable" Equivocation · White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS