Excluded middle

Informal fallacies → Other informal

Excluded middle (in the informal sense) is when you act as if there are only two extreme options and no middle ground. You present a stark choice and ignore the spectrum in between. The fallacy is to force people to pick one of two poles when in fact there are shades of grey. The remedy is to acknowledge that many issues have a range of positions, not just two.

Examples

  • You either want no rules at all or you want a police state.

  • Either we ban it completely or we allow it everywhere.

  • You're either for free speech or for censorship.

  • Either you trust him completely or you don't trust him at all.

  • We either go all in or we don't play.

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