ABSTRACT
A dilemma is a hypothetico-disjunctive syllogism, or a mediate argument based on an hypothetical major premise and an alternative minor premise. The dilemma, like the mixed hypothetical syllogism, has two principal forms, the constructive, and the destructive. The way in which dilemmas are sometimes used, or rather abused, for rhetorical purposes, or in jest, is rather apt to convey the impression that the dilemma is a kind of sophistical trick rather than a sound form of argument. The commonest type of dilemma is the complex constructive, and as dilemmas are frequently invalid there has come into vogue a special device for refuting the complex constructive dilemma when it is suspected of inaccuracy. The most effective way of really rebutting a dilemma is to point out what possibilities have been overlooked, and to show up ambiguities as may lurk in the argument. The dilemma is sometimes included among both mixed hypothetical and mixed disjunctive syllogisms.
