Editing Catch-22 (logic) (section)

== Origin and meaning ==
[[Joseph Heller]] coined the term in his 1961 novel ''[[Catch-22]]'', which describes absurd bureaucratic constraints on soldiers in [[World War II]]. The term is introduced by the character Doc Daneeka, an army surgeon who invokes "Catch-22" to explain why any pilot requesting mental evaluation for insanity—hoping to be found not sane enough to fly and thereby escape dangerous missions—demonstrates his own sanity in creating the request and thus cannot be declared insane. This phrase also means a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Beidler|first1=Philip D.|title=Scriptures for a Generation: What We Were Reading in the '60s|date=1995|isbn=978-0820317878|page=162|publisher=University of Georgia Press |quote=It is Catch-22: Dr. Daneeka explains how anybody who is crazy has a right to ask to be removed from combat status but how anybody who asks is revealing a rational concern for his own safety that makes him not crazy;}}</ref>

{{quotation|<nowiki>"</nowiki>You mean there's a catch?"

"Sure there's a catch," [[Doc Daneeka]] replied. "Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy."

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. [[Orr (Catch-22)|Orr]] was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. If he flew them, he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to, he was sane and had to. [[John Yossarian|Yossarian]] was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.}}

Different formulations of "Catch-22" appear throughout the novel. The term is applied to various loopholes and quirks of the military system, always with the implication that rules are inaccessible to and slanted against those lower in the hierarchy. In chapter 6, Yossarian (the protagonist) is told that Catch-22 requires him to do anything his [[commanding officer]] tells him to do, regardless of whether these orders contradict orders from the officer's superiors.<ref name=Henriksen>Margot A. Henriksen, ''Dr. Strangelove's America: Society and Culture in the Atomic Age''; University of California Press, 1997; {{ISBN|0-520-08310-5}}; p. [https://archive.org/details/drstrangelovesam00henr/page/250 250].</ref>

In a final episode, Catch-22 is described to Yossarian by an old woman recounting an act of violence by soldiers:<ref>"[http://www.answers.com/topic/joseph-heller Joseph Heller]", ''Gale Encyclopedia of Biography'', accessed via Answers.com, 16 August 2013.</ref><ref name=CombsNimmo />

{{quote|<nowiki>"</nowiki>Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Yossarian shouted at her in bewildered, furious protest. "How did you know it was Catch-22? Who the hell told you it was Catch-22?"

"The soldiers with the hard white hats and clubs. The girls were crying. 'Did we do anything wrong?' they said. The men said no and pushed them away out the door with the ends of their clubs. 'Then why are you chasing us out?' the girls said. 'Catch-22,' the men said. All they kept saying was 'Catch-22, Catch-22.' What does it mean, Catch-22? What is Catch-22?"

"Didn't they show it to you?" Yossarian demanded, stamping about in anger and distress. "Didn't you even make them read it?"

"They don't have to show us Catch-22," the old woman answered. "The law says they don't have to."

"What law says they don't have to?"

"Catch-22."}}

According to literature professor Ian Gregson, the old woman's narrative defines "Catch-22" more directly as the "brutal operation of power", stripping away the "bogus sophistication" of the earlier scenarios.<ref>Ian Gregson, ''Character and Satire in Post War Fiction''; London: Continuum, 2006; {{ISBN|978-1441130006}}; p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=e0qqaRTVt_sC&pg=PA38 38].</ref>

=== Other appearances in the novel ===
Besides referring to an unsolvable logical [[dilemma]], Catch-22 is invoked to explain or justify the military bureaucracy. For example, in the first chapter, it requires Yossarian to sign his name to letters he censors while he is confined to a hospital bed. One clause mentioned in chapter 10 closes a loophole in promotions, which one private had been exploiting to reattain the attractive rank of [[private first class]] after any promotion. Through [[courts-martial]] for going [[Desertion|AWOL]], he would be busted in rank back to private, but Catch-22 limited the number of times he could do this before being sent to the stockade.

At another point in the book, a prostitute explains to Yossarian that she cannot marry him because he is crazy, and she will never marry a crazy man. She considers any man crazy who would marry a woman who is not a virgin. This closed logic loop clearly illustrated Catch-22 because by her logic, all men who refuse to marry her are sane and thus she would consider marriage; but as soon as a man agrees to marry her, he becomes crazy for wanting to marry a non-virgin, and is instantly rejected.

At one point, Captain Black attempts to press Milo into depriving [[Major Major Major Major|Major Major]] of food as a consequence of not signing a loyalty oath that Major Major was never given an opportunity to sign in the first place. Captain Black asks Milo, "You're not against Catch-22, are you?"

In chapter 40, Catch-22 forces Colonels Korn and Cathcart to promote Yossarian to Major and ground him rather than simply sending him home. They fear that if they do not, others will refuse to fly, just as Yossarian did.

=== Significance of the number 22 ===
{{main|Catch-22#Title|Catch-22}}
Heller originally wanted to call the phrase (and hence, the book) by other numbers, but he and his publishers eventually settled on 22. The number has no particular significance; it was chosen more or less for [[euphony]]. The title was originally ''Catch-18'', but Heller changed it after the popular ''[[Mila 18]]'' was published a short time beforehand.<ref name="Aldridge1986" /><ref name=Telegraph />