trilemma
Sign in to saveA 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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- 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
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.
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.