Morton's Fork
John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury
contrary arguments nevertheless result in the same adverse premises
"a man living modestly must be saving money and could therefore afford taxes, whereas if he was living extravagantly then he was obviously rich and could still afford them".
a choice with only one option
Thomas Hobson (1544–1631), Cambridge,
He never gave his customers selection of which horse to ride
Cornelian dilemma a problematic situation over a choice which will be adverse in any event
Pierre Corneille, playwright
eg to love or honour revenge. To chose your mother's side over your spouse.
Pyrrhic victory
a victory achieved with heavy losses. Sometimes such victories lead to the entire War being lost etc. All gain may be to no avail.
King Pyrrhus of Greece,
Buridan's ass
a hypothetical choice between two shall equally give rise to a "tug-of-war" the outcome which is adverse- being a consequence of "not" choosing one over another.
"an ass that is equally hungry and thirsty is placed precisely midway between a stack of hay and a pail of water. Since the paradox assumes the ass will always go to whichever is closer, it will die of both hunger and thirst since it cannot make any rational decision to choose one over the other"
Jean Buridan, philosopher
Should two courses be judged equal, then the will cannot break the deadlock, all it can do is to suspend judgement until the circumstances change, and the right course of action is clear.— Jean Buridan
Therefore while "pondering" over a decision, adversity prevails
Buridan’s principle
- A discrete decision based upon an input having a continuous range of values cannot be made within a bounded length of time
