Paradox

A paradox is an apparently true statement or group of statements that seems to lead to a contradiction or to a situation that defies intuition. Typically, either the statements in question do not really imply the contradiction, the puzzling result is not really a contradiction, or the premises themselves are not all really true (or, cannot all be true together). The recognition of ambiguities, equivocations, and unstated assumptions underlying known paradoxes has often led to significant advances in science, philosophy and mathematics.

References

• Quine, W. V. (1962). "Paradox". Scientific American, April 1962, pp. 84–96.
• Clarke, Michael (2002). Paradoxes from A to Z. London: Routledge.