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The logical fallacy of false choice is a correlative-based fallacy in which options are presented as being exclusive when they may not be. It is often used to obscure the likelihood of one option or to reframe an argument on the user's terms. For example: Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The logical fallacy of false dilemma (in some sources falsified dilemma), which is also known as fallacy of the excluded middle, false dichotomy, either/or dilemma or bifurcation, involves a situation in which two alternative points of view are held to be the only options, when in reality there exist... In philosophy, the term logical fallacy properly refers to a formal fallacy: a flaw in the structure of a deductive argument which renders the argument invalid. ... In logic, correlative-based fallacies, also known as fallacies of distraction, are logical fallacies based on correlative conjunctions. ...

"The CIA director has misled the nation using false intelligence; he must either be incompetent or lying."

There is nothing to prevent someone from being both incompetent and a liar, or from being neither (there might be a good, competent reason for the use of false intelligence, and the misleading of the nation might not involve actual lying). However, if one thinks that lying about a matter requires competence in that matter and that misleading is a form of lying, then one may return to the "false choice" or find additional choices. Another example is: The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ...

"Nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hitman or a videogamer." ^[1]

This example of the fallacy presents the false choice between a hitman and a videogamer, ignoring both the fact that exclusion is not inherent (i.e. one could be both a hitman and a videogamer, a less-likely scenario) and the fact that there is no logical reason prohibiting non-hitmen non-videogamers from shooting people in the face. A hitman (alternately, hit man), also referred to as a contract killer, is a hired assassin, usually in the employ of organized crime. ... This article is about computer and video games. ...

Other famous examples of false choice include "America, love it or leave it," "Food not bombs", and "the freedom or security argument". Logo Food Not Bombs is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, serving free vegan and vegetarian food to others. ...

The false choice fallacy is also known as Morton's Fork, originating from an argument for taxing English nobles: Mortons Fork is an expression that describes a choice between two equally unpleasant alternatives (in other words, a dilemma), or two lines of reasoning that lead to the same unpleasant conclusion. ...

"Either the nobles of this country appear wealthy, in which case they can be taxed for good; or they appear poor, in which case they are living frugally and must have immense savings, which can be taxed for good."

In this case, the nobility may enjoy an average lifestyle and maintain moderately large savings; or, they may not have a high enough income to spend or save very much.

The fallacy of this type of argument is that it tries to eliminate the middle ground. A typical false choice is the assertion "You are either with me or you are against me." The chooser is forced to decide between absolute commitment or absolute non-commitment. Thus, the possibility of compromise is discounted. Such absolutism is applicable in science and mathematics, in which problems can have one and only one solution. In philosophy, however, there maybe less absolutes than other disciplines.

References

1. ^ Minton, James (2006-06-03). Video games seized from teen’s home. The Advocate. Retrieved on 2006-06-05.