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Why the Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever Cannot Be Solved in Less than Three Questions

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Abstract

Rabern and Rabern (Analysis 68:105–112 2) and Uzquiano (Analysis 70:39–44 4) have each presented increasingly harder versions of ‘the hardest logic puzzle ever’ (Boolos The Harvard Review of Philosophy 6:62–65 1), and each has provided a two-question solution to his predecessor’s puzzle. But Uzquiano’s puzzle is different from the original and different from Rabern and Rabern’s in at least one important respect: it cannot be solved in less than three questions. In this paper we solve Uzquiano’s puzzle in three questions and show why there is no solution in two. Finally, to cement a tradition, we introduce a puzzle of our own.

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References

  1. Boolos, G. (1996). The hardest logic puzzle ever. The Harvard Review of Philosophy, 6, 62–65.

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  2. Rabern, B., & Rabern, L. (2008). A simple solution to the hardest logic puzzle ever. Analysis, 68, 105–112.

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  3. Roberts, T. S. (2001). Some thoughts about the hardest logic puzzle ever. Journal of Philosophical Logic, 30(4), 609–612.

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  4. Uzquiano, G. (2010). How to solve the hardest logic puzzle ever in two questions. Analysis, 70, 39–44.

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Correspondence to Gregory Wheeler.

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Wheeler, G., Barahona, P. Why the Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever Cannot Be Solved in Less than Three Questions. J Philos Logic 41, 493–503 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10992-011-9181-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10992-011-9181-7

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