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.

I will insha Allah try to underline some of these logical fallacies with relevant examples. These logical fallacies include:

§  Bandwagon

§  False Cause

§  False Metaphor

§  Oversimplification

§  Red Herring

§  Slippery Slope

Let’s collectively explore these one by one.

The Bandwagon Fallacy

Definition:

The bandwagon fallacy applies where something is held to be true or valid by stating that many or all people believe in it.

Example:

Almost all database users use Oracle 10g; therefore, it is the best database available. Now, Oracle 10g may be the best database available, but not because almost all database users use it. It may be best because of the features and benefits that it provides. Conversely, the instance that almost all database users use Oracle 10g might not always be because it is the best; it might be that it is the cheapest, or easiest to install and maintain, and so on…

The Ummah’s Congruence to Bandwagon Fallacy:

Believing in the validity and verity of something by stating that most of the Muslim organizations believe it to be true is an example of bandwagon fallacy. Many a times, we normally do not question the rationale and logic of a verity but are contended to believe it since many or all people believe it to be true. Personally, I was myself a victim of this fallacy and believed that a majority of Muslim students attend Madarsa for their primary education; until I explored the Sachar Committee report. As per this report, only 3% of Muslim students attend Madarsa for primary education!

The Sachar Committee report also exposes the fact that a majority of Muslim students drop out of schools due to various reasons. However, based on the bandwagon fallacy of assuming that majority students attend Madarsa for primary education, we would have been lead to emphasize on reconstruction of Madarsas to ensure good primary education for the Ummah.

The Reposition:

The reposition requires a paramount transformation, a paradigm shift in the thinking and implementation pattern. A more logical approach would be to first attend towards the students who drop out due to poverty, so that they are provided with the opportunity to get educated. An entire central system devoted to ensuring that the deserving students are monetarily supported must be initiated to bring out the required effect. Maybe organizations such as Zakat Foundation of India can take the lead in constituting and maintaining this system.

At the same time, the quality of education in Madarsas needs to be reinforced parallel to this central system of monetary support. For this, the Madarsas must attract more capable teachers and pay them adequately. In summation, Madarsas might do well to start exploring the option of working as profit-making business units, at least as a self-sustained educational trust, rather than being dependent on the donations from the community. Once they are able to sustain the expenses and generate profit, the profit may be reserved for future developments and to monetarily support the students who cannot afford to pay for their education.

A freaky and unconventional idea is that we bring in more and more Muslim entrepreneurs in the domain of primary education, where they can set up competitive and profit-making primary schools offering best quality education. Then, based on the financial strength of these schools, each school sponsors the expenses of one or more Madarsas till the time they become self-sustaining and start generating profits. Until then, the sponsoring school might choose to have a discounted reporting of the Madarsas’ progress.

The False Cause Fallacy

Definition:

The false cause fallacy applies where we believe that if one event follows another, the first is the cause of the other.

Example:

All convicts are not guilty. However, when they are kept in jail for some years, they become dreaded criminals. Therefore, jails are the den of criminals.

The Ummah’s Congruence to False Cause Fallacy:

Convents provide quality education but they are run by Christians and provide an environment against Islam. If our children attend convent schools, they would be deprived of Islamic essence. Therefore, let us get our children educated in other schools – even if we can afford.

This accord has several dimensions that we might need to discuss:

i.             Convents are run by Christians and provide a hostile environment – Till how far do we expect to escape facing the majority/outward competition? Till the time we study in schools? Till the time we study in institutions such as AMU, Jamia, et al? What about the time when we complete our formal education and start a job? That’s easy – we can go to the Gulf for a job! Thereafter, the entire life is spent sacrificing family and children for the sake of saving sufficient money to return back to the home country and then maybe start a business. This time never comes, though. [With all due respect to my friends and elders who are working in the Gulf – no personal offence meant!!]

ii.           If our children attend Convent schools, they would be deprived of the Islamic essence – wouldn’t they be deprived of this essence when they go to college or start working? The fact is that they are liable to be deprived of the Islamic essence more easily during their college days, since this is the most vulnerable age. Again, school years form the foundation of an individual. Therefore, if their Islamic foundation is strengthened during their school years, the children are less vulnerable to be lead astray, insha Allah. However, their Islamic foundation may be strengthened even if they attend Convents, isn’t it? Once it has been strengthened, insha Allah they will live by it for the rest of their lives, even when faced with hostile environments. The idea is to prepare them to brace the hostility of the environment since their childhood days. It is anyways easier to structure the schema of their thought process when they are still young.

iii.          Therefore, let us get our children educated in other schools – Very few schools, other than Convents, are able to induce the aspect of critical and scientific thinking among the students [as per my own understanding]. This is primarily because the Convents employ unconventional pedagogy starkly dedicated towards education and cognitive empowerment; unlike many others who might thrive and relish in the conventional mode of structured learning and passing examinations as the culminating objective. Nonetheless, if we are unable to induce the essence of critical and scientific thinking among the children, irrespective of their school or Madarsa offing, we have anyways kept them distanced from the Islamic essence – since Islam is best comprehended with this agility of scientific and critical thinking; as Allama Iqbal had remarked that the advent of Islam was the birth of inductive logic.

The Reposition:

The entailment of Convent education as perceived by us may be rephrased as follows: “Let our children get educated in the best schools, irrespective of whether they are Convents or otherwise. Let this education be adequately supplemented by Islamic discourses AND THEIR IMPLEMENTATION at home to ensure that the children retrieve the Islamic essence along with the agility of critical and scientific thinking and redeem the prerequisite to cognitive empowerment.”

To be continued, insha Allah…