Here's a logic problem for you (From Lewis Carroll's Symbolic Logic)?

Question

Treat the following nursery rhyme as a classic syllogism and test the conclusion. Is it valid or not, or do the two premises result in a null conclusion.

Jack Sprat could eat no fat,
His wife could eat no lean,
Together twixt them both, they licked the platter clean!

Answer 1

Literally both Jack and his wife had weaknesses. Together they complimented each other to overcome them.



Answer: You can not get to God by applying scientific method [logic] to revelation.

Answer 2

I've seen this question before. It is some sort of sorities problem where intermediate conclusions and implied premises are left out.



I don't remember how this sorities is solved, but I remember wondering about the definition of the word 'lean'. Lean is often defined as 'little to no fat'. Which means perhaps his wife could also not eat at least some fat (since lean can include some fat) and perhaps Jack could perhaps not eat some lean (since lean can include some fat). Lean does not necessarily equal non-fat.



Anyway, post the answer in the comments when the question is over.

Answer 3

I say invalid because it only tells what they don't eat and not what they do.

-------------

Lewis Carrol would have instructed you to to include not only the literal statements but the reasonable implications in the two premises. So the way it is said you must assume they could eat what the other could not.

But you still are not told what is on the plate.

Whether there is fat or lean or both or nothing does not matter. They still deal with it, so long as you assume that one cleans up what the other leaves.

-----------

It means I need to read that again and I doubt if it is still in print.

Answer 4

Invalid.



We don't know to all food groups consist of only fat and lean.



We don't know what was on the plate.



If all three sentences were the given, then one could conclude the platter contained only fat and lean products.



But in the premise, premise, conclusion argument, the conclusion is invalid.



But it IS only a nursery rhyme.

Answer 5

valid but the answer is zero--lol---is someone a heinlein fan here---smile and enjoy the day

Answer 6

Romans 14

The Weak and the Strong

1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

5One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.



9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. 11It is written:

" 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord,

'every knee will bow before me;

every tongue will confess to God.' "[a] 12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.



13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. 14As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food[b] is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

Answer 7

unanswerable