A dilemma (from Ancient Greek δίλημμα ( dílēmma ) 'double proposition ') is a problem offering two possibilities, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. The possibilities are termed the horns of the dilemma, a clichéd usage, but distinguishing the dilemma from other kinds of predicament as a matter of usage.
37-447: The term dilemma is attributed by Gabriel Nuchelmans to Lorenzo Valla in the 15th century, in later versions of his logic text traditionally called Dialectica . Valla claimed that it was the appropriate Latin equivalent of the Greek dilemmaton . Nuchelmans argued that his probable source was a logic text of c.1433 of George of Trebizond . He also concluded that Valla had reintroduced to
74-434: A Presocratic philosopher whose works survive in fragmentary form, making the origins of the technique in philosophy imponderable. It was established with Diodorus Cronus (died c. 284 BCE). The paradoxes of Zeno of Elea were reported by Aristotle in dilemma form, but that may have been to conform with what Plato said about Zeno's style. In cases where two moral principles appear to be inconsistent, an actor confronts
111-418: A 12-year term, though they must retire upon reaching the age of 68 regardless of how much of the 12 years they have served. Re-election is not possible. A judge must be at least 40 years old and must be a well-trained jurist. Three out of eight members of each senate have served as a judge on one of the federal courts. Of the other five members of each senate, most judges previously served as academic jurists at
148-500: A dilemma in terms of which principle to follow. This kind of moral case study is attributed to Cicero , in book III of his De Officiis . In the Christian tradition of casuistry , an approach to abstract ranking of principles introduced by Bartolomé de Medina in the 16th century became tainted with the accusation of laxism , as did casuistry itself. Another approach, with legal roots, is to lay emphasis on particular features present in
185-594: A football stadium, killing tens of thousands. In international law, it has been suggested that the International Court of Justice confronted a legal dilemma in its 1996 Nuclear Weapons Advisory Opinion . It was faced with the question whether, in an extreme circumstance of self-defence, it is a state's right to self-defence or international law's general prohibition of nuclear weapons that should take priority. Gabriel Nuchelmans Gabriel Nuchelmans (15 May 1922, Oud Gastel – 6 August 1996, Wassenaar )
222-606: A given case: in other words, the exact framing of the dilemma. In law, Valentin Jeutner has argued that the term "legal dilemma" could be used as a term-of-art , to describe a situation where a legal subject is confronted with two or more legal norms that the legal subject cannot simultaneously comply with. Examples include contradictory contracts where one clause directly negates another clause, or conflicts between fundamental (e.g. constitutional ) legal norms. Leibniz's 1666 doctoral dissertation De casibus perplexis (Perplexing Cases)
259-635: A member of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen . His great work in three volumes on the history of the theories of proposition (1973, 1980, 1983) will remain for a long time the standard work on the subject. He also wrote several more introductory books, i.a. on David Hume (1965) and a survey of the history of analytical philosophy (1969). Federal Constitutional Court The Federal Constitutional Court (German: Bundesverfassungsgericht [bʊndəsfɛʁˈfasʊŋsɡəˌʁɪçt] ; abbreviated: BVerfG )
296-442: A member of two chambers. The court publishes selected decisions on its website and since 1996 a public relations department promotes selected decisions with press releases. Decisions by a senate require a majority. In some cases a two-thirds vote is required. Decisions by a chamber need to be unanimous. A chamber is not authorized to overrule a standing precedent of the senate to which it belongs; such issues need to be submitted to
333-477: A regular appellate court from lower courts or the Federal Supreme Courts on any violation of federal laws. The court's jurisdiction is focused on constitutional issues and the compliance of all governmental institutions with the constitution. Constitutional amendments or changes passed by the parliament are subject to its judicial review since they have to be compatible with the most basic principles of
370-585: A replacement lawmaker (German: Ersatzgesetzgeber) because it has overturned controversial policies numerous times, such as the Luftsicherheitsgesetz , the Mietendeckel [ de ] (rent cap) of Berlin, and parts of the Ostpolitik . This behavior has been interpreted as a hindrance to the normal functioning of the parliament. Another criticism of the federal constitutional court issued by
407-470: A university, as public servants or as a lawyer. After ending their term, most judges withdraw themselves from public life. However, there are some prominent exceptions, most notably Roman Herzog , who was elected President of Germany in 1994, shortly before the end of his term as president of the court. The court's head is the president of the Federal Constitutional Court, who chairs one of
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#1733092862803444-404: Is a remarkable deviation from German judicial tradition. One of the two senate chairs is also the president of the court, the other one being the vice president. The presidency alternates between the two senates, i.e. the successor of a president is always chosen from the other senate. The 10th and current president of the court is Stephan Harbarth . The Constitutional Court actively administers
481-541: Is an early study of contradictory legal conditions. In domestic law, it has been argued that the German Constitutional Court confronted a legal dilemma when determining, in connection with proceedings relating to the German Aviation Security Act , whether a government official could intentionally kill innocent civilians by shooting down a hijacked airplane that would otherwise have crashed into
518-423: Is similar to other supreme courts with judicial review powers, yet the court possesses a number of additional powers and is regarded as among the most interventionist and powerful national courts in the world. Unlike other supreme courts , the constitutional court is not an integral stage of the judicial or appeals process (aside from cases concerning constitutional or public international law), and does not serve as
555-637: Is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany , established by the constitution or Basic Law ( Grundgesetz ) of Germany. Since its inception with the beginning of the post- World War II republic, the court has been located in the city of Karlsruhe , which is also the seat of the Federal Court of Justice . The main task of the Federal Constitutional Court is judicial review , and it may declare legislation unconstitutional , thus rendering them ineffective. In this respect, it
592-494: Is the Bundestag itself that elects judges to the court, and this by secret ballot in the plenum. To be selected, candidates must get a two-thirds majority of those present at the vote, and provided that the number of votes in favor constitutes an absolute majority of the total membership of the Bundestag, including those not present at the vote. The Richterwahlausschuss only retains the power to nominate candidates. This new procedure
629-414: Is to choose the president, has to elect one of the judges of the senate, of which the former president was not a member, with a two-thirds majority. If the office of the vice president falls vacant, a new vice president is elected from the senate, of which the sitting president is not a member, by the legislative body, which has not elected the former vice president. The given legislative body is free to elect
666-615: The Grundgesetz defined by the eternity clause . The Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany stipulates that all three branches of the state (the legislature, executive, and judiciary) are bound directly by the constitution in Article 20, Section 3 of the document. As a result, the court can rule acts of any branches unconstitutional, whether as formal violations ( exceeding powers or violating procedures) or as material conflicts (when
703-768: The London School of Economics , Karl Popper and J.O.Wisdom . After admission to the PhD Nuchelmans taught for fourteen years Latin and Greek in Velsen . From 1964 he taught Ancient Philosophy and Analytic Philosophy and its History at the Philosophical Institute of the University of Leiden until his retirement on 10 September 1987. In this occasion a volume of essays (Logos and Pragma) was dedicated to him to celebrate his scholarly achievements. Nuchelmans had since 1975 been
740-450: The constructive dilemma and destructive dilemma . Such arguments can be refuted by showing that the disjunctive premise — the "horns of the dilemma" — does not in fact hold, because it presents a false dichotomy. You are asked to accept "A or B", but counter by showing that is not all. Successfully undermining that premise is called "escaping through the horns of the dilemma". Dilemmatic reasoning has been attributed to Melissus of Samos ,
777-566: The Bundestag delegated this task to a special committee ( Richterwahlausschuss , judges election committee), consisting of a small number of Bundestag members. This procedure had caused some constitutional concern and was considered to be unconstitutional by many scholars. In 2015, the Bundesverfassungsgerichtsgesetz (law code of the Federal Constitutional Court) was changed in this respect. In this new system, it
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#1733092862803814-463: The Constitutional Court had struck down more than 600 laws as unconstitutional. The court consists of two senates, each of which has eight members, headed by a senate chairperson. The members of each senate are allocated to three chambers for hearings in constitutional complaint and single regulation control cases. Each chamber consists of three judges, so each senate chair is at the same time
851-680: The Court made a preliminary announcement on the case, which was to be published in full on 18 March. In its ruling, the Court decided to leave judgment to the Court of Justice of the EU ( CJEU ). In this regard, the ruling of May 5, 2020, deemed an act of the EU and the Weiss Judgment of the Court of Justice "ultra vires", for having exceeded the powers granted by the Member States. The EU decided to initiate infringement proceedings against Germany. In response to
888-545: The Court stated that the question of whether the ECB 's decision to finance European constituent nations through the purchase of bonds on the secondary markets was ultra vires because it exceeded the limits established by the German act approving the ESM was to be examined. This demonstrates how a citizen's group has the ability to affect the conduct of European institutions. On 7 February 2014,
925-569: The Latin West a type of argument that had fallen into disuse. Valla's neologism did not immediately take hold, preference being given to the established Latin term complexio , used by Cicero , with conversio applied to the upsetting of dilemmatic reasoning. With the support of Juan Luis Vives , however, dilemma was widely applied by the end of the 16th century. A dilemma is often phrased as "you must accept either A, or B", where A and B are propositions each leading to some further conclusion. In
962-539: The Latin term cornuta interrogatio . The dilemma is sometimes used as a rhetorical device . Its isolation as textbook material has been attributed to Hermogenes of Tarsus in his work On Invention . C. S. Peirce gave a definition of dilemmatic argument as any argument relying on excluded middle . In propositional logic , dilemma is applied to a group of rules of inference , which are in themselves valid rather than fallacious. They each have three premises, and include
999-478: The case where this is true, it can be called a "dichotomy", but when it is not true, the dilemma constitutes a false dichotomy , which is a logical fallacy . Traditional usage distinguished the dilemma as a "horned syllogism " from the sophism that attracted the Latin name cornutus . The original use of the word horns in English has been attributed to Nicholas Udall in his 1548 book Paraphrases , translating from
1036-614: The civil rights prescribed in the Grundgesetz are not respected). The powers of the Federal Constitutional Court are defined in article 93 of the Grundgesetz . This constitutional norm is set out in a federal law, the Federal Constitutional Court Act (BVerfGG), which also defines how decisions of the court on material conflicts are put into force. The Constitutional Court has therefore several strictly defined procedures in which cases may be brought before it: Up to 2009,
1073-516: The federal government and (most controversially) ban non-democratic political parties. The Constitutional Court enjoys more public trust than the federal or state parliaments, which possibly derives from the German enthusiasm for the rule of law. The court's judges are elected by the Bundestag (the German parliament) and the Bundesrat (a legislative body that represents the sixteen state governments on
1110-515: The federal level). According to the Basic Law , each of these bodies selects four members of each senate. The election of a judge requires a two-thirds vote (but this supermajority requirement is not constitutionally mandated by the Basic Law, only by normal law ). The selection of the chairperson of each senate alternates between Bundestag and Bundesrat and also requires a two-thirds vote. Up until 2015,
1147-532: The former president of the Federal Intelligence Service , August Hanning, is that the court tends to overprotect people, according to him, even members of ISIS . He considers that to hinder the efficiency of German intelligence agencies in favour of protecting people in far-away countries. Finally, numerous decisions have been criticised and sparked demonstrations. 1 BvR 2656/18, 1 BvR 78/20, 1 BvR 96/20, 1 BvR 288/20 On 12 September 2012,
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1184-465: The judge it prefers, but with respect to the position of president, it has been always the sitting vice president, who was elected president, since 1983. The president of the Federal Constitutional Court ranks fifth in the German order of precedence , as the highest-ranking representative of the judicial branch of government. The court has been subject to criticism. One complaint is the perceived function as
1221-400: The law and ensures that political and bureaucratic decisions comply with the rights of the individual enshrined in the Basic Law. Specifically, it can vet the democratic and constitutional legitimacy of bills proposed by federal or state government, scrutinise decisions (such as those relating to taxation) by the administration, arbitrate disputes over the implementation of law between states and
1258-495: The senate as a whole. Similarly, a senate may not overrule a standing precedent of the other senate, and such issues will be submitted to a plenary meeting of all 16 judges (the Plenum). Unlike all other German courts, the court often publishes the vote count on its decisions (though only the final tally, not every judge's personal vote) and even allows its members to issue a dissenting opinion . This possibility, introduced only in 1971,
1295-407: The two senates and joint sessions of the court, while the other senate is chaired by the vice president of Federal Constitutional Court. The right to elect the president and the vice president alternates between the Bundestag and the Bundesrat . If the president of the Federal Constitutional Court leaves office, i.e. when his or her term as judge at the court ends, the legislative body, whose turn it
1332-754: Was a Dutch philosopher , who focused on the history of philosophy as well as on logic and the philosophy of language more in particular. After completing high school at the Episcopal School of Roermond, Nuchelmans studied at the Catholic University of Nijmegen , where he also earned his PhD in 1950. During the PhD he spent a year in Freiburg / Switzerland with Olof Gigon and Joseph Maria Bocheński. In 1947/48 he attended courses by Alfred Ayer and Stuart Hampshire , at University College London . He also heard, at
1369-542: Was applied for the first time in September 2017, when Josef Christ was elected to the first senate as the successor of Wilhelm Schluckebier . In the Bundesrat, a chamber in which the governments of the sixteen German states are represented (each state has 3 to 6 votes depending on its population, which it has to cast en bloc ), a candidate currently needs at least 46 of 69 possible votes. The judges are in principle elected for
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