When
the great ancient Greek philosopher,Aristotle,2500 years ago, established the
basis of persuading audience on three major factors; ethos, logos, pathos, he
probably would have never thought that these factors would stay so relevant
even after centuries. Ethos, which means ethics in Greek, focused on honesty of
writer, painter or creator of drama. In current terms, ethos explained to avoid
plagiarism in art. Pathos means emotion. Aristotle based this factor of
persuasion on artist's skill to use methods to utilize usual emotions of
humankind, such as anger, attachment, frustration, happiness etc. Third and the
last is Logos, which means logic. Aristotle spent a lot of time working on it.
He realized that artists make all kind of suggestions and arguments to persuade
their audience and many a times those logics are either false, baseless or
incomplete. He noticed that artists brought those sort of arguments in their
art from their or people's routine experiences. This made him prepare a huge
list of numerous arguments which seem false or baseless somehow or other. He
called them logical fallacies and the list as logical fallacy. It would be
injustice to these fallacies if all of them are included in a short article
like this. It may be wise to choose something which can relate to our day to
day life, which is the logical fallacy- Either/or, also known as, Black/ White,
False dilemma or even Binary logic.
Either/or is a logical fallacy where
Aristotle showed that our argument or suggestion has just two solutions and
that is why it is also known as Binary(two) logic. For instance, either,one is
doctor or unsuccessful; either we are patriotic or we are not patriotic. And
there are many more which I am sure you can think of. Few would be very basic
and rest could be sensitive. There could be few situations which dictate one's
inclination towards this logical fallacy and coining it as wrong logic ironically
puts us under same fallacy. Therefore it’s good to understand the logic and
circumstances behind this fallacy. A vivid example might help to understand it
better and choosing a basic example over sensitive ones is usually murderous
for a writer, however this example might suit both criteria of basic and
sensitive. As I mentioned before “either one is doctor or unsuccessful” is one
logical fallacy, prevalent in our culture and our country. Things have changed
however few professions have still been best choice for a major segment of our
society. People who born in 80s or 90s grew up targeting specific professions
of engineer, doctor , IAS and may be CA. For us and our family either we land
into one of these professions or we are going to be dead ducks. As much as
frustrating it was for parents and children , it was equally competitive and killing
for them and probably it still is. There still are stories of kids taking their
life for the fear of being unsuccessful. Options are so clear and demarcated
that we sometimes just see ourselves as poor and pathetic in coming years if we
don’t get into one of these professions.
Who should we blame for this
tremendous pressure and frustrations of kids, their parents and our society as
a whole. Parents wanted their kids too be engineer or doctor in early 2000s
because those were proven success factors and apparently they still are and
perhaps they will always be. Our country’s economy and system is created in
such a way that only few professions look and prove to be successful. The core
of this logical fallacy exists here. We definitely have people building career
in various other industries now a days, however somewhere or other we are not
able to get over the old school parameters of success. Unfortunately I have
seen engineers who are unsuccessful, and trying to study further or change
career. I still remember meeting a mechanical engineer couple years back at
railway station of Bhusawal and he clearlly mentioned that getting into
engineering is not a challenge in Maharashtra, its to use the course to get a
good job. Not everyone is there to go into software engineering and therefore
many a times, engineers study further , many a times overseas. However, indian
government’s initiative in early 2000s to assess and predict the demand of
software engineers which led into opening many triple IT institutes is highly
commendable. Wish government could have taken similar steps in other sectors/
professions. Anyways, we cant just pin point one aspect, we also need to somewhere
blame our intermediate and bachelor level of education system for the rise of
this logical fallacy.
A vivid example is, when a student of
Pune institute of film and arts quote on the huge forum of India today that it
takes 5-6 years to finish 3-4 years program, everyone seems to be surprised and
questions are raised to point the blame in right direction, it amuses me and I
am sure, many others. It is shameful and terrible to play with students and
youngsters, even teenagers future by introducing slackness in college and
universities in modes of strikes, system failure, shabby organization of
support staff and professors and last but not least, the introduction of the mighty
Politics in universities. I have grown up seeing these factors failing our
education system, our kids, their future , us and everyone in the society and
irrespective of any government the situation is same. Its not unknown that
numerous government colleges take more time than stipulated time of program.
Rise of private institutes which started with professional degrees have entered
into each and every program these days, unfortunately proves Aristotle wrong on
this logical fallacy in India. It is a shame that when developed countries
believe and focus on strengthen their public education system and provide
financial aid to each and every student, we here in India sit aside and clap
when one maverick teacher (Anand Kumar,from Patna, who was awarded at
international level for providing free tuition and food and accommodation to
underprivileged but talented engineering/ medical aspirers) alone, out of millions,
try to help handful of underprivileged but talented students. Bravo to him,
indeed. Other thing, which provides for thought is our need to go overseas to study.
Why after masters degree in India we go overseas and do back masters when
Indians are known to be one of the best in academics?
And if that is the only way to get good
education and jobs, then one should not waste time and money behind bachelor or
masters education in India. Ideally parents and students should think about studying
in the USA or other countries which care for their youngsters. Education system
and people in this system are highly student friendly and root for students
success by even providing tuitions in the respective subjects, free of cost,
which is fully funded by government. Sometimes college fees are cheaper than
fees of private institutes in India and even if it’s not, the education quality
is amazing. Now, we do have colleges which are one of the best in the world,
however people who are studying there are intelligent or highly laborious, also
known as book worms. Our education system does not help, encourage or support
people who are average but have zeal to do better. Unfortunately all these poor
circumstances force students to take hasty decisions by choosing wrong college
or program. That is why it is very important for youngsters to choose right
field and college and take help or guidance of experience people or counsellor
rather than take huge steps on half baked information. Its time we get over this logical fallacy
of either/or and strengthen our education system and open doors to multiple
prominent solutions for our youngsters which could run parallel to career
options of engineer or doctor. Else India will see a huge brain drain in coming
years. Aristotle was right then and he is right now, unfortunately, it seems we
are too busy burying the past and hooked up building future, present seems to
have lost and therefore we have just decided to carry on with this rudimentary
logical fallacy.
About writter - Written by guest blogger Neel. He
can be contacted on neelclaytons@gmail.com
He
teaches English for IELTS and TOEFL or even to people who want to develop it
for personality development or job. He teaches personally or through http://tutorindia.net/Tutor_Profiles-NTE4Mjg-Mr_Neel_Clayton. He
is counsellor on the education website www.yourvision.in
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