Word.ws English Dictionary

Buridan's bridge

Buridan's bridge proper noun: a self-referential paradox involving a proposition pronounced about an event that might or might not happen in the future. Socrates wishes to cross a bridge guarded by Plato, who says that if the next proposition Socrates utters is true, Socrates will be permitted to cross, but otherwise he will be thrown into the water. Socrates replies, "You will throw me into the water." Plato is then in a paradoxical situation regarding how to treat Socrates.

Proper noun

Buridan's bridge

  1. A self-referential paradox involving a proposition pronounced about an event that might or might not happen in the future. Socrates wishes to cross a bridge guarded by Plato, who says that if the next proposition Socrates utters is true, Socrates will be permitted to cross, but otherwise he will be thrown into the water. Socrates replies, "You will throw me into the water." Plato is then in a paradoxical situation regarding how to treat Socrates.

Origin of Buridan's bridge

Described by Jean Buridan.

Questions about Buridan's bridge

What does Buridan's bridge mean?
Buridan's bridge means a self-referential paradox involving a proposition pronounced about an event that might or might not happen in the future. Socrates wishes to cross a bridge guarded by Plato, who says that if the next proposition Socrates utters is true, Socrates will be permitted to cross, but otherwise he will be thrown into the water. Socrates replies, "You will throw me into the water." Plato is then in a paradoxical situation regarding how to treat Socrates.
What part of speech is Buridan's bridge?
Buridan's bridge is a proper noun.

Words near Buridan's bridge in the dictionary

  1. buricks
  2. Buridan
  3. Buridan formula
  4. Buridan's ass
  5. Buridan's asses
  6. Buridan's bridge
  7. Buridan's donkey
  8. Buridanian
  9. burie
  10. buried
  11. buried one's head in the sand

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Buridan's bridge (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Buridan's bridge.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/buridan%27s_bridge. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.