Dilemma
Adilemma(fromAncient Greekδίλημμα(dílēmma)'doubleproposition') is aproblemoffering two possibilities, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. The possibilities are termed thehornsof the dilemma, aclichédusage, but distinguishing the dilemma from other kinds of predicament as a matter of usage.[1]
Terminology
[edit]The termdilemmais attributed byGabriel NuchelmanstoLorenzo Vallain the 15th century, in later versions of his logic text traditionally calledDialectica.Valla claimed that it was the appropriate Latin equivalent of theGreekdilemmaton.Nuchelmans argued that his probable source was a logic text of c.1433 ofGeorge of Trebizond.[2]He also concluded that Valla had reintroduced to the Latin West a type of argument that had fallen into disuse.[3]
Valla'sneologismdid not immediately take hold, preference being given to the established Latin termcomplexio,used byCicero,withconversioapplied to the upsetting of dilemmatic reasoning. With the support ofJuan Luis Vives,however,dilemmawas widely applied by the end of the 16th century.[4]
A dilemma is often phrased as "you must accept either A, or B", where A and B are propositions each leading to some further conclusion. In the case where this is true, it can be called a "dichotomy", but when it is not true, the dilemma constitutes afalse dichotomy,which is a logicalfallacy.Traditional usage distinguished the dilemma as a "horned syllogism" from thesophismthat attracted the Latin namecornutus.[5]The original use of the wordhornsin English has been attributed toNicholas Udallin his 1548 bookParaphrases,translating from the Latin termcornuta interrogatio.[6]
Dilemmatic arguments
[edit]The dilemma is sometimes used as arhetorical device.Its isolation as textbook material has been attributed toHermogenes of Tarsusin his workOn Invention.[7]C. S. Peircegave a definition ofdilemmatic argumentas any argument relying onexcluded middle.[8]
In logic
[edit]Inpropositional logic,dilemmais applied to a group ofrules of inference,which are in themselves valid rather than fallacious. They each have three premises, and include theconstructive dilemmaanddestructive dilemma.[9]Such arguments can be refuted by showing that the disjunctive premise — the "horns of the dilemma" — does not in fact hold, because it presents a false dichotomy. You are asked to accept "A or B", but counter by showing that is not all. Successfully undermining that premise is called "escaping through the horns of the dilemma".[10]
In philosophy
[edit]Dilemmatic reasoning has been attributed toMelissus of Samos,aPresocraticphilosopher whose works survive in fragmentary form, making the origins of the technique in philosophy imponderable.[11]It was established withDiodorus Cronus(died c. 284 BCE).[12]The paradoxes ofZeno of Eleawere reported byAristotlein dilemma form, but that may have been to conform with whatPlatosaid about Zeno's style.[13]
Moral dilemmas along with ethical dilemmas
[edit]In cases where twomoral principlesappear to be inconsistent, an actor confronts a dilemma in terms of which principle to follow. This kind of moral case study is attributed toCicero,in book III of hisDe Officiis.[14]In the Christian tradition ofcasuistry,an approach to abstract ranking of principles introduced byBartolomé de Medinain the 16th century became tainted with the accusation oflaxism,as did casuistry itself.[15]Another approach, with legal roots, is to lay emphasis on particular features present in a given case: in other words, the exact framing of the dilemma.[16]
In law
[edit]In law, Valentin Jeutner has argued that the term "legal dilemma" could be used as aterm-of-art,to describe a situation where a legal subject is confronted with two or more legal norms that the legal subject cannot simultaneously comply with.[17]
Examples include contradictory contracts where one clause directly negates another clause, or conflicts between fundamental (e.g.constitutional) legal norms.Leibniz's1666 doctoral dissertationDe casibus perplexis(Perplexing Cases) is an early study of contradictory legal conditions.[18]In domestic law, it has been argued that theGerman Constitutional Courtconfronted a legal dilemma when determining, in connection with proceedings relating to the GermanAviation Security Act,whether a government official could intentionally kill innocent civilians by shooting down a hijacked airplane that would otherwise have crashed into a football stadium, killing tens of thousands.[19]
In international law, it has been suggested that theInternational Court of Justiceconfronted a legal dilemma in its 1996Nuclear Weapons Advisory Opinion.It was faced with the question whether, in an extreme circumstance of self-defence, it is a state's right toself-defenceor international law's general prohibition ofnuclear weaponsthat should take priority.[20]
See also
[edit]- Trilemma– Difficult choice from three options
- At Dulcarnon– English proverb
References
[edit]- ^Garner, Bryan(2009).Garner’s Modern American Usage.Oxford University Press.p.257.ISBN9780199888771.
- ^Nuchelmans, Gabriel (1991).Dilemmatic arguments: towards a history of their logic and rhetoric.North-Holland. p. 89.ISBN0-444-85730-3.
- ^Nuchelmans, Gabriel (1991).Dilemmatic arguments: towards a history of their logic and rhetoric.North-Holland. p. 94.ISBN0-444-85730-3.
- ^Nuchelmans, Gabriel (1991).Dilemmatic arguments: towards a history of their logic and rhetoric.North-Holland. pp. 102–6.ISBN0-444-85730-3.
- ^Hamilton, Sir William (1863).The Logic of Sir William Hamilton, Bart.Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin. p.185.
- ^Erasmus, Desiderius (2003).Paraphrase on Luke 11-24.University of Toronto Press. p.158.ISBN9780802036537.
- ^Lucia Calboli Montefusco,Rhetorical use of dilemmatic arguments,Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric Vol. 28, No. 4 (Autumn 2010), pp. 363–383, at p. 364. Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric. DOI: 10.1525/rh.2010.28.4.363JSTOR10.1525/rh.2010.28.4.363
- ^Ghosh, Sujata; Prasad, Sanjiva (2016).Logic and Its Applications: 7th Indian Conference, ICLA 2017, Kanpur, India, January 5-7, 2017, Proceedings.Springer. p. 177 note 5.ISBN9783662540695.
- ^Church, Alonzo (1996).Introduction to Mathematical Logic.Princeton University Press.ISBN0691029067.
- ^Govier, Trudy (2009).A Practical Study of Argument.Cengage Learning.ISBN978-0495603405.
- ^Harriman, Benjamin (2018).Melissus and Eleatic Monism.Cambridge University Press. p. 44.ISBN9781108416337.
- ^Sedley, David (2018)."Diodorus Cronus".The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
- ^Palmer, John (2017)."Zeno of Elea".The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
- ^Jonsen, Albert R.; Toulmin, Stephen Edelston (1988).The Abuse of Casuistry: A History of Moral Reasoning.University of California Press. p. 75.ISBN9780520060630.
- ^Peters, Francis E. (2003).The words and will of God.Princeton University Press. p. 154.ISBN0691114617.
- ^Jonsen, Albert R.; Toulmin, Stephen Edelston (1988).The Abuse of Casuistry: A History of Moral Reasoning.University of California Press. p. 54.ISBN9780520060630.
- ^Birkenkötter, Hannah,Valentin Jeutner: Irresolvable Norm Conflicts in International Law: The Concept of a Legal Dilemma,28 (2017) European Journal of International Law 1415-1428.
- ^Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, "Inaugural Dissertation on Perplexing Cases in the Law" in Alberto Artosi, Bernardo Pieri, and Giovanni Sartor (eds.),Leibniz: Logico-Philosophical Puzzles in the Law(Springer 2013).
- ^Jeutner, Valentin (2017),Irresolvable Norm Conflicts in International Law: The Concept of a Legal Dilemma,Oxford University Press, p. 15, 72. See also Michael Bohlander, ‘Of Shipwrecked Sailors, Unborn Children, Conjoined Twins and Hijacked Airplanes—Taking Human Life and the Defence of Necessity’ (2006) 70 The Journal of Criminal Law 147.
- ^Jeutner, Valentin (2017),Irresolvable Norm Conflicts in International Law: The Concept of a Legal Dilemma,Oxford University Press, p. 10-11.
External links
[edit]
Media related toDilemmasat Wikimedia Commons
