Logical Fallacies of Our Cognitive Thought Process – I

Logical fallacies are errors of reasoning and logical judgments; premises, assumptions, arguments, or statements that appear perfectly fine at first, but contain a logical error. It has been argued that these logical errors may be identified and corrected with prudence. Being entrusted with the job of training young authors of academic and reference books, I have been imparting the concept of logical fallacies to them to ensure that their writing is logically grounded and endowed towards the cognitive development of the learners. The discourse on logical fallacies forms a fundamental ground for logical deduction in writing for academia, and may be extended to the entire cognitive thought process, which may be applicable not only to writing but also to other aspects of problem solving in varied domains. The aspect of cognitive retardation and impedance of the Ummah has been largely debated by most of us. It is seen as a major constriction towards the uplift and empowerment of the Ummah. The interesting aspect to this corollary is that the solutions to the malice that we observe are equally endorsed by the same cognitive retardation and impedance. In other words, the solutions that we see are dowsed with these logical fallacies of our cognitive thought process.

Do We Need Leaders?

By Dr. Wasim Ahmad

We probably do not. Why? In the modernized set-up and the institutions that have developed in the collective life, every organized segment of it – from family to governments – has a leader and an in-charge. This is already in practice, naturally. Beyond this we do not need a leader per se. We only need intuitive individuals who may give ideas and show a different dimension or perspective as per the situations. We may value them as givers of ideas and as individuals. Beyond this we do not need to revere them and gravitate around them for some charisma. This is anathema to Islam, our ideal that we aspire to follow despite all our failings.

A Car as an Example

By Dr. Wasim Ahmad

It is an attempt to illustrate our situation in terms of the educational set-up that we have and which allows the two streams of traditional and modern learning flow separately – perpetuating disdain and self-doubt.

Reservations and What Not…

“Begging is much more difficult than it looks. Contrary to popular belief, it’s a high art form that takes years of dedicated practice to master…”

-      Sol Luckman

Some people have recently been talking vociferously about reservations and what it means to the Muslim Community. To the extent that I recently received a mailer discussing an anticipated discussion by the Cabinet about including non-Hindus in the purview of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, so that Muslims and other religious minorities could also avail the benefits of reservation. People and organizations have gone over to call this decision of the Cabinet as “a turning point in the history of Indian secularism” [as if we have already not reached this turning point – and would probably wait for a few more Babri Masjid and Godhra episodes to happen for the same]. Earlier, some scholars from the Ummah had called out to include the ENTIRE Muslim Indian population in the Other Backward Castes [OBC] category, so that the entire Ummah could reap the benefits of reservation. Before talking about reservation for Muslim Indians, let’s first try to divulge on the essence of reservation.