False dilemma

A false dilemma is pretending there are only two possibilities, although more exist. In this way, it suggests a dilemma that is not. Another name for this is false dichotomy.

The fallacy may be intentionally used as effect a sham election. It can also arise by inadvertent failure to detect additional options, such as " I thought we were friends. All my friends were at the party - only you were not there. "

The philosopher John Searle attacked Derrida's view " Unless a distinction is not made rigorous and precise it is not really a distinction ." He even insists that " it is a condition of the appropriateness of an exact theory of an indeterminate phenomenon that exactly characterizes the phenomenon and indeed as indeterminate; and a distinction causes nothing more than a distinction in related, marginal and divergent classes. " Thus, if two alternatives are presented, they are often, but not always, the extreme points of a number of ways. This may bring to the opinion as to a parent argument that exclude the arguments mutually, although they do not do it.

Examples

• "We either do this right, or we do not. "
• "Political interaction is always a friend or foe for money. "
• "Either the theory of evolution is complete and correct in all particulars, or there must be a God exist." ( For this example: see creationism. )