Bifurcation, False Dichotomies or Limited Imagination?

This post is for Boo – my old buddy from Dickinson – my namesake hometown. He was the sole person to comment on the previous post on bifurcation. I would like to take that post and run a little bit with it. The dance of twos – you might say. It has much to do with how we look at that world. As a result, when we find ourselves in precarious positions – perceived dilemmas, we tend to see the outcomes in terms of I can either do this or that. Yet - does this limited (this or that) choice really encompass all the choices at your disposal?? Let’s examine this.

On one level it can be as simple as the child holding an ice ball with the only target in site being his so-called friend - to throw or not to throw? That is the dilemma? Well, what about drop it, or take it home and put it in the freezer etc. etc. On a more serious level, what if you are climbing and roped to a partner. At one point your partner slips and tumbles over the side of an abyss and starts to drag you over the edge. You find you cannot stop your decline and are faced with this dilemma – cut the rope or go over the edge. Is there any other choice, or are you caught on the proverbial horns of a dilemma? This seems much more limiting. Are there in fact other choices? How do you know? And, of course, this situation can also be viewed metaphorically, a situation that many of us find ourselves in. We are connected, in some way, to some object, some person or to some situation. We see that person or situation as taking us over the edge into some form of the abyss. However, in this extended version it seems we have entered the world of a false dilemma?

All of us, are facing, or have faced, similarlly dramatic or emotional situations in our lives where we see the choices limited to two. Of course, in reality a false dilemma involves two alternative statements that are believed to be only possible options, when in reality there are one or more other choices that have not been considered. This is also referred to as false choice, false dichotomy, black and white thinking, a falsified dilemma, either/or fallacy, and also, of course, bifurcation. As for the previous post - Big Frank stands convicted of the fallacy of bifurcation – but then again – so too do all of you!

Care to share your stories??