trilemma

A trilemma is a difficult choice from three options, each of which is (or appears) unacceptable or unfavourable. There are two logically equivalent ways in which to express a trilemma: it can be expressed as a choice among three unfavourable options, one of which must be chosen, or as a choice among three favourable options, only two of which are possible at the same time.

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Commons category: Trilemmas

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Contents

In religion
Epicurus' trilemma
Apologetic trilemma
In law
The "cruel trilemma"
In philosophy
The Münchhausen trilemma
{{anchor|Censorship}} The trilemma of censorship
Buddhist Trilemma
In economics
"The Uneasy Triangle"
The "impossible trinity"
Wage policy trilemmas
The political trilemma of the world economy
Holmström's theorem
Arrow's impossibility theorem
In politics
The Brexit trilemma
The Zionist trilemma
The Žižek trilemma
Trilemma of democratic reform
In business
The project-management trilemma
The trilemma of an encyclopedia
In computing and technology
In data storage
In anonymous communication protocols
In clustering algorithms
Other (technology)
See also
References
External links

The term derives from the much older term dilemma, a choice between two or more difficult or unfavourable alternatives. The earliest recorded use of the term was by the British preacher Philip Henry in 1672, and later, apparently independently, by the preacher Isaac Watts in 1725.