PHILOS 2 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Three Steps, Unexpected Hanging Paradox, Reductio Ad Absurdum
Document Summary
Lecture 16: prediction paradox by prof. sven bernecker. Class, there will be an exam next week. I will not tell you on which day i will give you the exam; its timing will be a surprise. The umbrella term for the different versions is the prediction paradox. The exam will not be totally unexpected, since the class knows that it will occur sometime during the next week (month, year, etc. ) A student who is very good at logic claims that the teacher cannot give a surprise exam. The teacher"s announcement has two parts: that she will give an exam, and that it will be unexpected. The teacher cannot give the exam on friday (assuming this to be the last possible day of the week); for, by the time. Thursday evening arrives, and we know that all the previous days have been exam-free, we would have every reason to expect the exam to occur on friday.
