Diodorus Cronus

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Diodorus Cronus (4th century BC) was a Greek philosopher of the Megarian school. Most notable for logic innovations, in particular the paradox of future contingents, little is known of his life.

Diogenes Laertius tells a story that, while staying at the court of Ptolemy Soter, Diodorus was asked to solve a dialectical subtlety by Stilpo. Not being able to answer on the spur of the moment, he was given a nickname by Ptolemy meaning the God, equivalent to slowcoach. The story goes that he died of shame at his failure. Strabo, however, says that he took the name from Apollonius, his master.

Like the rest of the Megarian school he revelled in verbal quibbles, proving that motion and existence are impossible. The impossible cannot result from the possible; a past event cannot become other than it is; but if an event, at a given moment, had been possible, from this possible would result something impossible; therefore the original event was impossible. This problem was taken up by Chrysippus, who admitted that he could not solve it.

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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.