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→Difficulties: expansion on articulation of Liar's Paradox - "Hence, it is self-contradictory, and therefore meaningless." - leads into the paragraph following
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If the sentence is false then it correctly describes itself and is, therefore, true. On the other hand, if it is true it mis-describes itself and is, therefore, false.
If the sentence is false then it correctly describes itself and is, therefore, true. On the other hand, if it is true it mis-describes itself and is, therefore, false. Hence, it is self-[[Contradiction|contradictory]], and therefore meaningless.
[[Alfred Tarski]], in attempting to formulate a conception of truth that avoided these paradoxes, formulated a way of separating the concept of truth from "the facts" it was to represent. His ''Semantic Theory of Truth'' held that truth was part of a [[metalanguage]], a language that talks about basic [[language]]s. The basic languages, known as "object languages" describe, or purport to describe, the state of the world. The metalanguage then describes whether or not the basic language has succeeded. [[Karl Popper]] recommended thinking of the languages in terms of two different [[natural language]]s.<ref>Popper, K.R. ''The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol 2.'' Routledge. London. 1966. p 369-396</ref> Take, for example, [[French]] as the basic language and the statement:
[[Alfred Tarski]], in attempting to formulate a conception of truth that avoided these paradoxes, formulated a way of separating the concept of truth from "the facts" it was to represent. His ''Semantic Theory of Truth'' held that truth was part of a [[metalanguage]], a language that talks about basic [[language]]s. The basic languages, known as "object languages" describe, or purport to describe, the state of the world. The metalanguage then describes whether or not the basic language has succeeded. [[Karl Popper]] recommended thinking of the languages in terms of two different [[natural language]]s.<ref>Popper, K.R. ''The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol 2.'' Routledge. London. 1966. p 369-396</ref> Take, for example, [[French]] as the basic language and the statement: