Trilemma

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Trilemma is a choice of three options, each of which appears to be unacceptable or unfavorable. The term is a neologism alluding to the Greek word dilemma , which is a choice of two options. The prefix “Tri-” stands for “Three-” .

There are two ways to describe a trilemma:

  1. The choice of three unfavorable options, one of which must be chosen.
  2. The choice of three cheap options, in which only two can be selected at the same time or in which there is a trade-off between the three sizes (the closer you get to one of the three, the further you get away from one or two of the other two ).

The first mention of the term comes from the British preacher Philip Henry in 1672. Later - in 1725 - and independently of Henry, Isaac Watts used the term.

Epicurus trilemma

One of the first people to formulate a trilemma was the Greek philosopher Epicurus , who rejected the view of an almighty and benevolent God . To this end, he put forward the following theses:

  1. If God is willing but unable to prevent evil, he is not omnipotent.
  2. If God is able but unwilling to prevent evil, He is not good.
  3. If God is willing and able to prevent evil, why is there evil?

Although these statements are traditionally ascribed to Epicurus, there are also views that this statement was already made by a previous skeptic , possibly Karneades .

Lewis' trilemma

A well-known trilemma is formulated by Christian apologetics as evidence of the divinity of Jesus . The best known is the formulation of the British writer and literary scholar Clive Staples Lewis . The trilemma is based on the assumption that the biblical Jesus - according to Mt 26.64  EU - claimed to be God and that Jesus (through his answer “You say it” to the high priest) corresponded to one of the three following categories must:

  1. The madman : Jesus wasn't God. He mistakenly believed that he was God.
  2. The liar : Jesus was not God, knew that and still claimed it.
  3. God : Jesus is God.

The relevance of this trilemma is essentially based on the assumption that the biblical Jesus was considered a great moral teacher (great ethical teacher) in any case , and was addressed to followers of Christianity who, although the teachings of Jesus, but not the church's teaching of divinity Accept Jesus.

Economic trilemma

In economics, there is a trilemma (called Impossible Trinity ) between state interventions in different financial markets : It shows the impossibility of achieving national monetary policy autonomy, fixed exchange rates and free capital flows at the same time . According to the theory, only two of the three goals can be achieved at a time.

The Munchausen Trilemma

The Munchausen Trilemma is about justifications. It is ultimately impossible to justify a statement: either the chain of reasons would continue indefinitely, the statement to be justified would appear in the chain of reasons at some point, or the chain of reasons would be broken off in order to dogmatically put a statement as the last.

The Bieri Trilemma

A formulation of the mind-body problem is sometimes referred to as the Bieri trilemma . The Bieri Trilemma was elaborated in 1981 by the Bernese philosopher and writer Peter Bieri in the book Analytical Philosophy of Mind . Bieri's argument relates to the problem of mental causation .

Rodrik's political trilemma of the world economy

The Turkish economist and professor at Harvard University Dani Rodrik names the fundamental political trilemma of the world economy, the impossibility of pursuing democracy, national self-determination and economic globalization at the same time.

Web link

Wiktionary: Trilemma  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Allan A. Metcalf: Predicting New Words: The Secrets of Their Success. Houghton Mifflin Reference, 2004, pp. 106-107.
  2. ↑ David Hume : Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. 1779.
  3. ↑ Mark Joseph Larrimore: The Problem of Evil: a reader. Blackwell, 2001.
  4. ^ Clive Staples Lewis: Mere Christianity. Collins, London 1952, pp. 54–56 (i.e. i. Book II, Chapter 3, “The Shocking Alternative”).
  5. ^ Maurice Obstfeld, Jay C. Shambaugh & Alan M. Taylor (2005). The Trilemma in History: Tradeoffs Among Exchange Rates, Monetary Policies, and Capital Mobility in The Review of Economics and Statistics. Tape. 87, No. 3, pp. 423-438.
  6. ↑ Peter Bieri: Analytical Philosophy of Mind. Königstein, Hain, ISBN 3-445-02213-5 , p. 9.
  7. ↑ Markus Richert: Rodrik's Trilemma of the World Economy. In: Portfolio Concept - The Asset Manager. December 6, 2016, accessed on February 4, 2019 (German).
  8. ↑ Rodrik's Impossible Triangle . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed February 4, 2019]).