Why is super.super.method(); not allowed in Java?

I think Jon Skeet has the correct answer. I'd just like to add that you can access shadowed variables from superclasses of superclasses by casting this:

interface I { int x = 0; }
class T1 implements I { int x = 1; }
class T2 extends T1 { int x = 2; }
class T3 extends T2 {
        int x = 3;
        void test() {
                System.out.println("x=\t\t"          + x);
                System.out.println("super.x=\t\t"    + super.x);
                System.out.println("((T2)this).x=\t" + ((T2)this).x);
                System.out.println("((T1)this).x=\t" + ((T1)this).x);
                System.out.println("((I)this).x=\t"  + ((I)this).x);
        }
}

class Test {
        public static void main(String[] args) {
                new T3().test();
        }
}

which produces the output:

x=              3
super.x=        2
((T2)this).x=   2
((T1)this).x=   1
((I)this).x=    0

(example from the JLS)

However, this doesn't work for method calls because method calls are determined based on the runtime type of the object.

There's some good reasons to do this. You might have a subclass which has a method which is implemented incorrectly, but the parent method is implemented correctly. Because it belongs to a third party library, you might be unable/unwilling to change the source. In this case, you want to create a subclass but override one method to call the super.super method.

As shown by some other posters, it is possible to do this through reflection, but it should be possible to do something like

(SuperSuperClass this).theMethod();

I'm dealing with this problem right now - the quick fix is to copy and paste the superclass method into the subsubclass method :)

I think if you overwrite a method and want to all the super-class version of it (like, say for equals), then you virtually always want to call the direct superclass version first, which one will call its superclass version in turn if it wants.

I think it only makes rarely sense (if at all. i can't think of a case where it does) to call some arbitrary superclass' version of a method. I don't know if that is possible at all in Java. It can be done in C++:

this->ReallyTheBase::foo();

IMO, it's a clean way to achieve super.super.sayYourName() behavior in Java.

public class GrandMa {  
    public void sayYourName(){  
        System.out.println("Grandma Fedora");  
    }  
}  

public class Mama extends GrandMa {  
    public void sayYourName(boolean lie){  
        if(lie){   
            super.sayYourName();  
        }else {  
            System.out.println("Mama Stephanida");  
        }  
    }  
}  

public class Daughter extends Mama {  
    public void sayYourName(boolean lie){  
        if(lie){   
            super.sayYourName(lie);  
        }else {  
            System.out.println("Little girl Masha");  
        }  
    }  
}  

public class TestDaughter {
    public static void main(String[] args){
        Daughter d = new Daughter();

        System.out.print("Request to lie: d.sayYourName(true) returns ");
        d.sayYourName(true);
        System.out.print("Request not to lie: d.sayYourName(false) returns ");
        d.sayYourName(false);
    }
}

Output:

Request to lie: d.sayYourName(true) returns Grandma Fedora
Request not to lie: d.sayYourName(false) returns Little girl Masha