False Dilemmas

Week 7, Post 3

In the book, Critical Thinking, the definition of a false dilemma is a bad usage of "or" in a claim is false or implausible to exclude possibilities. Although the claims of the argument are valid, it may not be a good.  Using "or" only limits the possibilities one can have in an argument; it excludes any other opportunities or alternatives.

I found this section in the book extremely helpful because it was often said that in an argument only if the premises are true it is unlikely that the conclusion is false. However, even though the premises are true in a false dilemma, it is not the complete truth because using "or" makes it seem that the argument is narrowed with limited options. However, I feel that using false dilemmas get the message across to others more and I think it is quite common. I am positive that everyone has used a false dilemma in their lifetime as least once. I know I have used this tactic before, I just did not know there was a name for it until now.