Thursday, 19 January 2012

Is this a question?

There is a story as old as the hills about a question that might have been set in a finals exam for a degree in Philosophy at Oxford University (once upon a time).

The question was :

"Is this a question?"

You can imagine the convolutions that under-graduate philosophers might get into.  For three years they have been trained to think tangled thoughts and to back up their reasoning with seemingly logical arguments.

With so much at stake, how brave would you have to be to write as little as:

"Yes, if and only if this is an answer"

Small note:  The myth says that the candidate was rewarded with a first class honours degree!

2 comments:

John Chapman said...

Kind of like discussing the truth of the statement 'This statement is false.'

Anonymous said...

this is a genius question and answer i would have never have guessed the answer, well done