Question: When Socrates was imprisoned for being a disturbing influence, he was held in high esteem
by his guards. All four of them hoped that something would occur that would facilitate his
escape. One evening, the guard who was on duty intentionally left the cell door open so that Socrates could leave for distant parts.
Socrates did not attempt to escape, as it was his philosophy that if you accept society's rules, you must also accept it's punishments. However, the open door was considered by the authorities to be a serious matter. It was not clear which guard was on that evening. The four guards make the following statements in their defense:
Aaron:
A) I did not leave the door open.
B) Clement was the one who did it.
Bob:
A) I was not the one who was on duty that evening.
B) Aaron was on duty.
Clement:
A) Bob was the one on duty that evening.
B) I hoped Socrates would escape.
David:
A) I did not leave the door open.
B) I was not surprised that Socrates did not attempt to escape.
Considering that, in total, three statements are true, and five statements are false, which guard is guilty?
Answer:
David is the guilty.
Note that "All four of them hoped that something would occur that would facilitate his escape". It makes Clement's statement B True and David's statement B False.
Now consider each of them as a guilty, one at a time.
Aaron Bob Clement David True
Stmts
A B A B A B A B
If Aaron is guilty False False True True False True True False 4
If Bob is guilty True False False False True True True False 4
If Clement is guilty True True True False False True True False 5
If David is guilty True False True False False True False False 3
Since in total, three statements are true and five statements are false. It is clear from the above table that David is the guity.