The blind guy

Ok. So its been bothering me since Thursday night's class. I could not put it down, and this morning I finally came up with the words. I'm talking about the "Prisoners and the Hats" logic problem.

I'll quote it here for followers of this blog, but all my fellow aspirants know it too well:

Of three prisoners in a certain jail, one had normal vision, the second had only one eye, and the third was totally blind. The jailor told the prisoners that, from three white hats and two red hats, he would select three and put them on the prisoners' heads. None of the prisoners could see what color hat he wore. The jailor offered freedom to the prisoner with normal vision if he could tell what color hat he wore. To prevent a lucky guess, the jailor threatened ten additional years of incarceration for any incorrect answer. The prisoner with normal vision looked at the other prisoners and said that he could not tell what color hat he wore. The jailor made the same offer to the one-eyed prisoner. The second prisoner said he could not tell what hat he wore, either. The jailer did not bother making the offer to the blind prisoner, but he agreed to extend the same terms to that prisoner when he made the request. The blind prsoner answered the question correctly in the following way:

"Although I am devoid of sight, from what my friends have said, I know my hat is _______."

What color hat was the blind prisoner wearing, and how did he know?

So, we get this question in a class on Introductory Theology. What for? I think because the interesting part of this problem is not what color hat the blind guy was wearing, nor how did he know. The interesting part is the language and construct of the explanation. There are many aspects to the theologian's job, as we have learned. One aspect is to re-explain theology using contemporary language. Basically, to explain how we know what we know in a clearly and accessibly. So, can an explanation of how the blind guy knows the color of his hat be made simple, straight-forward and accessible? I had to try and now offer it to you, my fellow kindergarten theologians, for critique. So, here we go:

Before the first prisoner speaks, all three consider the different combinations of 3 white and 2 red hats on three heads. There are 6 different combinations. They all know the first prisoner would be 100% certain of the color of his hat only if both of the other prisoners are wearing red hats. Only in that case, would he be certain he is wearing white. So, when he could not tell which color hat he had on, both of the remaining prisoners knew for certain that at least one of them is wearing a white hat (both are not wearing red).

Now, with the knowledge that at least one of these last two prisoners are wearing a white hat, they realize together that the second prisoner would be certain of the color of his hat only if the third prisoner is wearing a red hat. The second prisoner is not certain, so the blind guy is not wearing a red hat. He is wearing white.


Is that any good?