What do these two words mean. I looked them up in a dictionary but as usual I didn't understand the definition.

Question

Enigma and paradox.

Chris · Accepted Answer

Corrct me if I'm wrong, but an enigma is something that cannot be explaind while a paradox is an enigma which could happen in real life (not strictly an impossible situation)

Ahava_yin · Answer

Hi, I thought "paradox" is concerned with something containing contradictory aspects. Didn't notice it "enigma" meaning. Glad to know about this meaning.

Meg2589 · Answer

Enigma means a difficult problem or difficult to understand e.g. She is a bit of an enigma.
Paradox means contradiction or difficult to understand because it has two opposite statements e.g. It's a curious paradox that drinking a lot of water can often make you feel thirsty. (Cambridge Dictionary)

In my daily life here, I never saw the use of enigma, though I heard people using the word paradox. So I can't explain the word enigma any more. But I see both words are realted to each other.
Just wait a little bit, soon CalifJim or MountainHiker or other great teachers of this forum will explain these two words. I am also waiting for them to answer this question. I need to know more about these two words, especially enigma.

Regards.

Meg2589 · Answer

//Corrct me if I'm wrong, but an enigma is something that cannot be explaind while a paradox is an enigma which could happen in real life (not strictly an impossible situation) //

Excellent Chris! I didn't think about this use of enigma in paradox. How about this:

//An enigma is something difficult that cannot be explained while a paradox is an enigma which could happen in real life due to two contradictory or opposite statements or situations.//

Because for this I am sure that a paradox is always due to two opposite situations.

Regards.

CalifJim · Answer

"I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." -- Winston Churchill

http://www.bartleby.com/66/58/12358.html

Words that have to do with our inability to understand include: mystery (mysterious, mystify), enigma (enigmatic), puzzle (puzzling, puzzled, puzzle), conundrum, riddle, bewilderment (bewildering, bewildered, bewilder), confusion (confusing, confused, confuse), confound, perplexity (perplexing, perplexed, perplex).

An enigma is something puzzling and mysterious which does not yield readily to analysis. It is like a closed book which you cannot open, but yet you continue to wonder about what is inside. A person who never reveals much about himself can be an enigma to others.

A puzzle may be something difficult to understand, but you feel that a solution is possible. A riddle is more like a word game: "When is a door not a door? -- When it's ajar." If you are truly perplexed, you may feel that a solution is not possible.

To confound someone is to confuse them in a way that greatly surprises them. To mystify someone is to conceal certain aspects of the situation in order to puzzle them on purpose.

Words that have to do with logical contradictions include: paradox (paradoxical), antinomy, contradiction (contradictory, contradict), inconsistency, impossibility, dilemma.

Are you familiar with Kant's four antinomies? -- with Zeno's paradox? with the paradoxes of quantum mechanics?

Paradoxes can involve politics: "We had to destroy the village to save it." (War is justified to save people from a cruel tyrant.)

A person can be, figuratively, a paradox: Sally is a paradox. She exercises regularly and eats right because she is so concerned about health. And yet she continues to smoke. Her behavior is paradoxical.

Here is the liar's paradox: "This statement is false."

Bertrand Russell's Barber Paradox:

Consider the barber who shaves all those men, and only those men, who do not shave themselves. Does the barber shave himself?

No, he can't: That would be shaving himself, and he doesn't shave such men. So he doesn't shave himself. But wait! He has to shave himself, because he is one of those men who do not shave themselves, exactly the sort of men he shaves! What a paradox! Trying to solve this poses a real dilemma!

Paradoxes are puzzling, but not everything that is puzzling is a paradox.

Do you see anything paradoxical at the very bottom of this post?

Anonymous · Answer

if we entend to protect and enhance our humanity, we must first protect and enchance language and fight anything that undermines and cheapens it.

What do these two words mean. I looked them up in a dictionary but as usual I didn't understand the definition.

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