Avoiding false dichotomies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On February 28, 2022 I blogged about critical thinking in a post titled A life preserver for staying afloat in a sea of misinformation. One logic problem discussed there was that of a false choice - presenting only two options when more exist. Wikipedia titles it more generally as a False Dilemma. As shown above, when you head north or south from Boise typically you run out of pavement before you run out of road.

 

The March 11, 2022 xkcd web comic titled False Dichotomy has the following dialogue:

 

"White Hat: That’s a false dichotomy!

Cueball:        Yes, but we have to embrace false dichotomies,

                       because the only alternative is cannibalism."

 

Since 9/11 we have been subjected to other versions like:

 

“We need to do [THIS] or else the terrorists win!”

 

You can even buy a print of a New Yorker cartoon which says:

 

“I figure if I don’t have that third martini, then the terrorists win.”