Critical Thinking: Italian or German?

Question

A little something I got from my philosophy class. I hope this makes you guys think a little.

You're sitting on the shore and you know there's a boat with three people sitting in it off shore. It's dark outside and you want to find out the nationalities of the occupants. You know that occupants are either Italian or German. You know further that all Italians lie all of the time (literally) and that all Germans tell the truth all the time (literally). So to find out who's who, you call out to the first one: 'Number 1, are you Italian or are you German?' They reply, but the wind kicks up and you can't hear it. The second one then chimes in: 'She said she's German and so am I'. To this the third one replies: 'They're both lying; I'm German and they're both Italians'.

Who's German and who's Italian and why?

Answer 1

it's to hard for me and it's 3:13am but that's just a excuse tell me the answer please!!

Answer 2

Both 1 and 2 could be Italians while 3 is a German. That means that 3 is right in saying that 1 and 2 are Italians and are lying. As for 2's statement, since 2 is an Italian, 2 is lying about how she and 1 are Germans so it all fits.

But on the other hand, 1 and 2 could be Germans and could be telling the truth that they are indeed Germans while 3 is an Italian and is lying about how 1 and 2 are Italians and are lying. Again, it all fits. (Hope I have not confused you...)

But from a totally different point of view, how can you determine who is 1,2 or 3 when you cannot even see who they are and anyone could have answered at any time?Ok, I think I'm thinking too much about this...

Anyway, I hope you can tell us the answer sometime soon. Thanks for the question. It's been fun.:)

Answer 3

There is one case that an italian would never lie...An italian would never ever lie say they were german when they werent, im italian and very proud of and so is every other italian. lol

getting that out of the way, there r 2 solutions to this question

either 1 and 2 are german or italian

or 3 is german or italian

hmmm yes confusing

or they could all just be Polish cuz it seams pretty dumb to be in a boat with 3 plp in the dark just offshore

lmao sorry polish plp i just could'nt resist

i do apologize

Answer 4

Bahhh...

#3 is telling the truth all the time or none of the time, and stated that #1 and #2 were both Italians.  Either #3 is lying and #1 and #2 are Germans, or #3 is telling the truth, and #1 and #2 are Italians.  #1 and #2 are the same nationality(#1 = #2) either way...

I'm a real sucker for answering this question...hehe...

#2 said that #1 said #1 and #2 are both Germans.  Either #2 is telling the truth, or lying in which case #1 could've said anything.  There are two answers to this problem as I see it.  Either #3 is Italian and #1 and #2 are Germans, or it's the other way around.

Please stand back as my head proceeds to explode...

I'm guessing #3 is German, and the others are Italian.  #2 said "SHE said..."  instead of "THEY said," even though two other people spoke out to my question, so #2 has to be lying.  This means #2 is Italian and #3 was telling the truth.  That's just a shot in the dark, though.

Answer 5

there is only 1 solution...  # 3 is Italian and  #1 and #2 are German

We've already determined (through the nicely detailed explanations given by others) that  #1 and #2 are both Italian or German and that 3 is the opposite of that

  

If #1 is  Italian, she would have to lie and say "I am German and so is #2."   If #2 is also Italian, his response would have to be "She said she is Italian and so am I" (Otherwise he'd be telling the truth about what she said!)

So therefore, #1 and 2 must be German and #3 is Italian.