Some of us don't have discrete mathematics books laying around, and in a discussion about logic, the entire problem should have be presented. In any case, on the one hand the literal question does not ask what the student should do to enter the specific company, only what to do to get hired in general. So if we are going with your "question was asked in English not Logic" theory the question itself was misleading. However, I don't agree with that argument.
Furthermore, another good example of why his response is not a lie is the following rewording: "Taking the long view on your education, you go to the Prestige Corporation and ask what you should do in college to be hired when you graduate. The Personnel Director replies that you will be hired only if you submit an application. You return to Prestige Corporation, make a formal application, and are turned down. Did the Personnel director lie to you?"
The conditions listed by the director have no bearing on the truth of the statement, as long as the applicant performs them, so this substitution does not change the truth of the statement in any way. Its purpose is to remove the clutter of the statement, which was put in there specifically to mislead. As in the original problem, with the rewording he has not lied, he has only stated that in order to be hired you must comply with the conditions but complying with them does not guarantee it. The only guarantee is that if you don't meet the conditions, you absolutely will not be hired. Now that I have actually seen the question, it still has no bearing on the validity of what the director has said. The director's statement is still valid, and using your own arguments the applicant asked a misleading question in the first place (not that I believe in approaching the problem that way).
Perhaps an even simpler example with get the point across: "You ask the mechanic how to make your car run. The mechanic replies that you have to put gas in your car. After putting gas in you car, it still isn't running. Did he lie?" Does the fact that you failed to put the key in the ignition and turn it make the mechanic a liar? No, it doesn't, the same way that meeting the qualifications for a job does not mean you automatically get it.
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Date: 2003-09-02 09:11 pm (UTC)Furthermore, another good example of why his response is not a lie is the following rewording: "Taking the long view on your education, you go to the Prestige Corporation and ask what you should do in college to be hired when you graduate. The Personnel Director replies that you will be hired only if you submit an application. You return to Prestige Corporation, make a formal application, and are turned down. Did the Personnel director lie to you?"
The conditions listed by the director have no bearing on the truth of the statement, as long as the applicant performs them, so this substitution does not change the truth of the statement in any way. Its purpose is to remove the clutter of the statement, which was put in there specifically to mislead. As in the original problem, with the rewording he has not lied, he has only stated that in order to be hired you must comply with the conditions but complying with them does not guarantee it. The only guarantee is that if you don't meet the conditions, you absolutely will not be hired. Now that I have actually seen the question, it still has no bearing on the validity of what the director has said. The director's statement is still valid, and using your own arguments the applicant asked a misleading question in the first place (not that I believe in approaching the problem that way).
Perhaps an even simpler example with get the point across: "You ask the mechanic how to make your car run. The mechanic replies that you have to put gas in your car. After putting gas in you car, it still isn't running. Did he lie?" Does the fact that you failed to put the key in the ignition and turn it make the mechanic a liar? No, it doesn't, the same way that meeting the qualifications for a job does not mean you automatically get it.