This complex dilemma is valid since the minor premise denies the two consequents.
=17. ORDINARY EXPERIENCES RELATED TO THE DISJUNCTIVE PROPOSITION AND HYPOTHETICAL ARGUMENT.=
(1) One desires to take a certain trip which involves various routes; information from time tables reveals the fact that there are three routes A, B, and C. Concerning the conditions of the journey the most important factor is the _matter of comfort_. Further investigation makes evident that route B will be the most comfortable one, and consequently is the route selected. Putting this ordinary experience in argumentative form gives the following:
The route is to be either A, or B, or C; I will take route A; if it is the most comfortable; (co-extensive) A is not the most comfortable route, Hence I will not take route A. If B is the most comfortable route, I will take it; B is the most comfortable route, Hence I will take route B.
(2) The symptoms suggest either malarial or typhoid fever; the physician is undecided till a blood test makes evident that it is not typhoid.
This disease is either malarial or typhoid fever; If it is typhoid, the blood will reveal certain evidences; But the blood does not reveal these evidences, Hence the disease is not typhoid.
(3) The natural bent of the youth suggests the profession of either the ministry or teaching. He finally decides to follow the one in which he can best serve his fellows. This, after mature deliberation, appears to him to be the work of the teacher. Thrown into the form of an argument the following results:
I am best fitted for either the pulpit or the schoolroom; If the schoolroom furnishes the richest field for helping my fellows, I will choose that work; The schoolroom _does_ appear to furnish such a field, Hence I will choose the work of the teacher.
It would appear from these ordinary experiences that frequently we are brought face to face with a choice of alternatives which are not unattractive, as in the case of the dilemma. Moreover, some condition suggests itself which, if proved or disproved, will lead to a choice of _one_ of these alternatives. Such circumstances when thrown into the form of an argument present a _disjunctive proposition_ followed by a _hypothetical argument_. To put it differently: Often in our daily affairs a most prominent limiting condition induces us to select one out of several alternatives. These alternatives are _not_ dilemmatic in nature.