Soupçon, Fallacy Séries, 6.8

 'Begging the question' is the fallacy we are going to explore today. 'Begging the question' is an informal logical fallacy wherein an argument's premises assume the truth of its conclusion instead of providing independent proof.

It is yet another example of  circular reasoning or petitio principii, which is Latin for "assuming the original point".The argument uses the claim it is trying to prove as a foundational piece of evidence for that same claim.

In other words, such a sentence/such an argument fails to offer new information.  Instead, it re-states the conclusion in different words.  

 The best example for this type of fallacy comes from religious texts. "The Bible," for example, it is argued, "is true because it is the word of God, and we know it is the word of God because the Bible says so!" 

Pratima Agnihotri

How (not) to behave/communicate/negotiate???

 The Venue: The main gate of the IIT-B. Is it the Open House meet? No! Is it the Admin Building? Nope! It IS the "dharana" literally by thousands of students.

Time: late night. Duration: hours long. Cause behind the sit-in: Sahil's sad demise as a suicide. The participants: literally thousands of students and the IIT Bombay Director, Professor Shireesh Kedare, ready to meet them at the campus main gate.

The students are discussing a serious issue. How is their stance? They are wagging their fingers at him, screaming at him, cheekily smirking "record it" when he offers to sign their demands as well as to step down.

Is this how serious negotiations go on? All these students are going to join big tech companies, may run their own start-up's, would face all sorts of international interactions! Sure, they are agitated. Practically the whole nation is, incidentally. 

Why the uncouth arrogant dismissive gestures though? This IS NOT a new 'politics of language' as certain youtubers may maintain. This is sheer vulgarity of response, getting normalised since the 'Jantar Mantar' days. Well, actually, good leadership rests on good communication!

The fun of it is that they want the authorities to 'listen' to them. They are, however, not ready even to 'hear'! Yet another interesting contradiction is that they can scream, shout, sneer, what have you. But the authorities, the institute, the educational establishment must take care of their psychological tensions!

 Come again, please! At about twenty (the general mean age of those militant students, right?), one should have the EQ and the SQ to manage one's own mind, one's emotions, one's tensions, right? How can, and why must, the educational institution provide very many psychiatrists on campus? 

Are we letting loose on the world degree holders who know only their 'rights', who have an 'i alone am right' attitude, who think that rude, conceited, self-important, opinionated aggression, nay, tantrums, full of oneself is their birthright? Sorry, Dear World! Yes, if such are our products, we have indeed failed you!

Pratima@ Do you know why I am aghast at such goings-on? Well, I teach languages, literature, communication, body language, et al. I used to always think that the IIT's would excel at all the communication strategies, given the high IQ of the students!                                           Unfortunately, however, the entire fracas has proved that the whole world now questions the relevance of Humanities, accused of 'drum'ming up (literally, too!) suspect sit-in's! And here I was, glorifying communication and humanities as necessary inputs for a rounded personality of students of  all disciplines, but especially of technocrats!

Quote of the day:                                                           "The art of communication is the language of leadership," asserts  James Humes.

Word of the day: "Humanities". Much doubted due to the IIT-B interpolations!                           The Humanities are academic disciplines that study human society, culture, history, and the human experience using qualitative, critical, interpretive, and analytical methods rather than merely quantitative empirical scientific experiments.

A Possible Solution?

 Whatever actually happened in the examination hall on that fateful day in the IIT-Mumbai, many lives thus ended. Obviously, a young boy, a teenager, committed suicide. With that demise and the ensuing accusations, died the reputations of a sincere teacher and his director. 

Evaporated in to thin air the fame of a prestigious institute, given the extremely ugly shenanigans that continue. And how about the already mired in to controversies indian education system? Surely such incidents do not exactly oxygenate it, right?

Is there a possible solution which can be used even beyond the hallowed IIT premises? Every facet should be thought through first. To begin with, most UG/PG students do not want to study these days. They bunk lectures like anything, hopefully with their ambitious parents' knowledge. Many lecturers, too, prefer the easy way out of indirectly leaking the question paper instead of actually teaching the syllabus thoroughly. 

Hence, instead of a facade of a ritual called exam, why not make it open book? The question paper can then genuinely be truly evaluative. It can be extremely creative, too. Every possible skill, critical thinking, problem solving, analytical skills, communication skills, can all be tasted through case studies. 

Allow the examinees their textbooks in the exam hall. Mobiles must be kept away though. Jammers can be operative, moreover, in case a smartie smuggles one in his/her pocket. Thus only those students who actually know the subject properly would pass! 

Minimum invigilation needed! No accusations involved! No mere MCQ test either! No mockery called memorisation the night before of "imp" questions! Overhaul the entire exam system, in brief! 

This way, the ball would entirely be in the students' court. They would have to attend lectures. Teachers hence would have to conduct lectures! Case studies, moreover, cannot be shamelessly repeated year after year as there has to be a library copy of the question paper, right? Three paper sets must be designed which would have to be counter-checked, but not by the paper-setter's dear friend, a practice which is most often a mode of dining n paying buddies via the institutional funding!

Alternatives do exist, in brief. And not much out of the box thinking is involved either!

Pratima@ Suppose a scenario wherein the invigilator is not open category, while the student is! Are you sure then that the favourite Bramhinical etc etc pattern would not be mocked? How far, how long, how much and whose victimisation, please!?!

Soupçon, Fallacy Series, 6.7

 Let it be midnight, and with you is  a group of naughty/nutty friends. Someone is sure to shoot, "There is no proof that ghosts do not exist, so they must exist."

Yet another example that suits current contexts! "You cannot prove you are innocent, so you must be guilty." Both these are examples of a fallacy known as an informal type of fallacy called "appeal to ignorance." 

An appeal to ignorance is a logical error where you claim something is true just because it has not been proven false, or false just because it has not been proven true.m Intellectually, running in circles, in brief! 

Pratima Agnihotri

Soupçon, Fallacy Series, 6.6

 Let us continue our discussion of informal fallacies.  First let us define this concept. What is an informal fallacy? An informal fallacy is 'an error in reasoning that occurs because of the content or context of an argument, rather than its structural form'. It is difficult to locate an informal fallacy just by looking at the logical shape of the sentences. One has to understand the actual meaning of the words and the real-world situation.

Now let us look at a well-known informal fallacy. It is known as the "Appeal to Authority." It consists of treating a claim as true simply because an expert or famous person said so, often, nay, almost always, without valid evidence. 

The best example of such a fallacy would  be an advert with celebs providing endorsement for a product they themselves may not even use. Such irresponsible lust for the mollah may ruin the life of a stupid fan! Hope you would now appreciate the notice Mr. Mundhe served to the "pan masala" pandering stars! 

Pratima Agnihotri

The hide-but-no-seek sickness@Memory

 September 21 is observed as the Alzheimer's day. What is this 'dis-ease' which hides away from his/her own self a person's very               'i-dentity'? Unluckily, moreover, there is no reversal, no seek-back to this dis-ease to cure which as yet there is no definitive medicine. 

Let us understand this dis-ease in some detail. Dementia is an overall term for a decline in mental abilities, the effect being severe enough to interfere with daily life, and Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause, accounting for 60% to 80% of cases, maintains medical research.

 Both these conditions are caused by physical damage to brain cells, which stops them from working, rather "talking", to each other. What causes dementia and/or Alzheimer's Disease? 

Beta-amyloid plaques is mostly the culprit. Such protein pieces clump together outside brain cells and block their signals.Tau tangles are yet another cause. Tau proteins change shape inside brain cells, and destroy the cell transport system.

Unfortunately, there is no decisive cure for this dis-ease and the currently known treatments at best slow the progression of Alzheimer's. Drugs, moreover, can be given only in early stages, and they carry a huge risk of brain hemorrhage. 

There are many non-medical ways to enhance the life of someone with dementia/ Alzheimer’s. Support groups can help, too, especially because the dis-ease is very heavy on the immediate family, especially the care-giver who suffers a lot, having to witness a loved one getting gradually, but surely, lost to a foggy forgetfulness.

Even in this AI-era, hard it is to say how far we are from perfectly treating someone who already experiences symptoms. Most of the research, moreover, is on people who are already deep into it, and there has not been much tangible success so far, it seems.

May be, argue the experts, the damage possibly starts many years before symptoms become apparent, or dominant. Some people think that the damage may be too severe to treat by the time most Alzheimer's patients seek help. 

Before symptoms are noticable, there are already some possible modifiable risk factors that an individual can practice so as to lower one's own chances of experiencing Alzheimer's. 

They are, stopping smoking (and vaping) and drinking, correcting hearing and vision loss, cutting out processed food, downsizing sugar quantity, taking care of oral health, of gums and teeth, exercising both body n mind in a gentle way, taking  vaccines such as shingles as they are neuro-protective, and enjoying some social connect. Good sleep is, of course, THE panacea. Avoid any excesses, in brief, so that the brain, too, ages gracefully! 

Pratima@ How do I know so much about this dis-ease? Well, Papa was researching the phenomenon. During my Ph.D. days, once he had even participated in a national seminar on this topic. I tried reaching out to his research in my own small, little ways. Hence all this info!

Quote of the day:                                                           "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting," asserted William Wordsworth in the 'Intimations Ode'.

Word of the day: Alzheimer's Disease                      This is a progressive neurological disorder, and the most common cause of dementia.

The Tale of a nick-name

 Nick-names often tell a tale. Not always does the story hide some ugly plot. At times, it can be a tribute to a presence. The story our blog is going to narrate today is a tribute to one such wondrous vision, even when it was on the silver screen that she thus shimmered. 

The main character in our story is Manik Sitaram Godghate. Does the name sound familiar? Here is a clue. He is a famous Marathi poet. That tip is no help! Okay,  have you heard this song sung and set to music  by Hridaynath Mangeshkar? Yes, I am referring to "Ti geli tenvha paus". 

Well, it is a poem penned by Manik Sitaram Godghate. Yes, he is the well-known Marathi poet 'Grace'. Not many may find his poetry easy to understand, given the complexity of his symbols and his dense linguistic experiments. 

Now the story of his pen name 'Grace'. Manik Godghate was enchanted with the performance of Ingrid Bergman in a 1958 film "The Inn of Sixth Happiness." True it is that Bergman has a hauntingly lyrical presence. There is something uniquely pure, genuine, innocent, clean, gentle about her. 

In addition to this allure of Ingrid Bergman, in this particular film, she enacts the role of a committed evangelist who tries her utmost to save the lives of orphaned children in war-torn China. In these far away lands, she remains true to her love, too. 

Literally she is grace personified. Godghate was impressed with her persona on the screen as she appeared to him to be grace incarnate. Hence he assumed the pen name 'Grace'. He even dedicated his first anthology to her. 

Undoubtedly, actresses with an aura have a magic of their own. They are both real and yet not bound by the daily lived physicalities and/or realities as they are both so very near and yet so far away, so very close and yet so very distant that their imaginary essence fires imaginations! That is the moral of the story!

Pratima@ This 'fan-cy' anecdote convinces me that girls must have written to Rajesh Khanna letters with their blood as the ink!         Incidentally, "ti geli tenva" is NOT dedicated to maternal death. Rather, it refers to Godghate's emotional anguish he deeply felt as a young boy when his young stepmother would leave the house to meet her lover, leaving the child feeling helpless, abandoned, and stripped of his childhood early.                                                                              Distant stars shine the brightest! From close quarters, they are nothing but stones. How very true of film persona of actresses or of inspirations behind movingly emotional poems!!! 

The quote of the day:                                                    "Give up to grace. The ocean takes care of each wave till it gets to shore," says Rumi,

The word of the day: grace                                        Grace means elegance in movement, especially in/of behavior as well as a freely given, unearned blessing.