English Explanatory Dictionary

Thomson's lamp

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. A hypothetical lamp in a philosophical paradox. The lamp is repeatedly turned on and off by means of a switch; at the end of this time period, regarded as the sum of an infinite series of intervals, it seems paradoxically that the lamp cannot be either on or off.

Word forms

Thomson's lamp

Etymology

The idea was devised in 1954 by British philosopher James F. Thomson.

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