#2           59. A LEGALTANGLE                 

Protagoras lived and taght in the 5th century BC. It is said that he made an arrangement with one of his pupils that the pupil should pay for his instruction after he had won his first case.

The young man completed his course and hung up the traditional shingle, but unfortunately no clients appeared. Protagoras grew impatient, and decided to sue his former pupil for th amount owing.

“For,” argued Protagoras, “either I win this case, or you win it. If I win, you pay me according to the judgement of the court. If you win, you pay me according to our agreement. In either case I get my money.”

“Not so,” replied the young man. “If I win, then by the judgement of the court I need not pay you. If you win, then by our agreement I need not pay you. In either case you don’t get the money.”

Whose argument was right?
HINT

No hints for this one!!
HINT 2

Did you get

M2 – W2 = 63?

What sort of numbers are M and W? And what are the factors of 63?
SOLUTION

The rather unsatisfying answer is, ‘Who knows?’ There are many such logical paradoxes.

One of the best known is the rule: ‘There is an exception to every rule’.

You might like to think about this!
EXTENSION

Explore the topic of paradoxes.

1. Borrow a copy of Raymond Smullyan’s book What is the name of this book?’ (Pelican 1981).

2. Look up Wikipedia on paradoxes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox

3. Think about this. In our logical understanding of language, we like propositions to be true or false. Is this necessarily so? Or might there be a place for a third option?