October 10, 2013

The False Dichotomy: Fallacious Thought Based on Duality

In the process of logical thought, there are several nuances in critical thinking that provide illogical outcomes. These nuances are referred to as fallacies. Fallacies are defects in an argument that arise from other factors than those created by false premises. The informal fallacy known as “the false dichotomy, false bifurcation and the either…or… fallacy,” is based on weak reasoning assuming that there are only two possible outcomes. It’s based on the concept that there is only duality in the world providing the logic of, “this is an either this will happen or that will happen scenario.” In a world, where everything has more than one meaning it is easy to fall into this illogical process of thought. There are so many possible outcomes and your subconscious knows that. It can become overwhelming and our brain naturally calculates the most probable outcomes that you can deal with. Usually, your mind defaults to the two most probable outcomes a good one and a bad one.

The problem with this type of logic is that it narrows your creativity and limits your ability to see the whole picture and all the possible outcomes. Simple laws of probability would prove that type of logic to be wrong. Can you really think of any scenario where there are only two possible outcomes? Even when flipping a coin there are more than just two possibilities. I’m sure if you YouTube searched enough you could find a video where a coin is flipped and lands on its edge, falls into some water, or some other unexpected outcome.

Why is it important to know about this reasoning process that occurs in our brains? Well, if you know what your mind is up to, then you can recognize when you’re being irrational. Life is full of unexpected surprises and even the most logical minds can fall prey to illogical thought based on emotional responses. You may find yourself in a world of uncertainty facing consequences for bad judgment and allow yourself to slip into an abyss of helplessness. You will unknowingly put blinders on see only what is at the end of the tunnel. You will only see two exit signs one to the place you wish you could be and one to the place you hoped you would never end up. Your anxiety will ramp up, your thoughts will race and your heart will slump a baseline in your chest. Sometimes, it will feel like a chore to be in existence.

When this happens to you, and it will, remember to not only think about the extreme outcomes on each end, but also the infinite amount of possibilities that lay between those two dramatic scenarios. Nothing is for certain in this life except for the cliché, death and taxes. Take a personal inventory of your actions and reactions to information as it is presented. Make sure you factor in all of the information when you find yourself saying, “I’m either going to get this best outcome or this worst outcome,” check your head and remember that there are any number of combination of good things and bad things that may come bundled up in one “not as bad as you thought package.” Focus on the things in your life that you can control and remember that even in a world of duality the final outcome is not limited to just two extreme scenarios.

-Phillip Tomlin

Nothing

Nothing refers to something, obviously. The question is, what, is the implication made about nothing. When I try to think about nothing, I try to take all physical, mental, or metaphysical aspects away from my consciousness. Is that possible? If I meditate, the Dali Lama would even recommend, that I focus on essentially nothing. Well, sense we are sensory-motor functioning individuals, it is almost impossible to achieve. However, I think it is possible; it’s just not a simple task. Maybe that is their Nirvana. I think that is what Kant (philosopher) is kind of talking about when he says that, “Human reason has this peculiar fate that in one species of its knowledge it is burdened by questions which, as prescribed by the very nature of reason itself, it is not able to ignore, but which, as transcending all its powers, it is also not able to answer.” I think that is the heart of human turmoil and religion. We cannot answer some questions, but we will continue to answer (and ask) them in different forms that circulate back around to the same curiosities. Humans want what they can’t have; we won’t give it up.

The inability to “give up” curious knowledge about metaphysics is relentless. The Cosmological argument is mentally tiring and tedious. Ok, it says there are pretty much two arguments. Both arguments have fallacies; therefore, I won’t present a headache of ideas. Logic involves reasoning; most of us are ration-oriented beings. So why does the idea of nothing provoke thoughts about the totality of the universe? I think of nothing as sort of this void. Try to imagine NOTHING at all. It is a void. So what is the universe, and did it come from a void? There is a fallacy there that relates back to the cosmological argument.

Priest says that nothing is a quantifier. It is a universal quantifier that functions much differently than a simple subject in a sentence. Priest also says that, “Not all grammatical subjects are equal.” Keeping that in mind, one must consider the implications made by quantifiers. I can’t treat it the same as a name. “Becky scares me.” “Nothing scares me.” These two sentences have opposing context. Nothingness refers to absolutely something. Otherwise you would just say that not anything scares me; which doesn’t make sense. Logically, nothing means a degree of nothingness in direct relation to something. Now that is fun to think about.

The only thing left I want to talk about in relation to nothing is the fact that language does play a huge role in interpreting meanings. Linguistics must be considered totally when it comes to understanding just one word anyways.

Nothing is definitely something to me. It reverts back to the very heart of Logic: metaphysics. Existing itself is just cool; that is why we all want to know how, when, what, who, and why we do exist. I just know one thing--I don’t know nothing.

-Sunny

Cocktail Poet

Early sun rises

Breaking through cloudy morning,

And I feel like dancing,

Wearing only a

Kiss and matching bliss,

Full morning ahead.

Here in Massachusetts,

Sunny mornings don’t mean

Bright days to come.

Often those mornings

Lead me on the pathway

Of rainy sidewalks at

Suppertime.

It’s been a rainy-sunny

Sort of semester.

My temper matching

The weather only

Adds to my inability

To focus on

What’s right in front

Of me.

I’ve been caressing

The dark side

Of my epidermis,

Letting the veins

Leak my venom

And my antidote.

The dark side is not

Any more evil than

The light, but bright

Smiles are more socially

Acceptable than the

Battle wounds across

My chest etching out

The words

“I can’t do this anymore.”

Flip me over and see my

Shadow of new hope

Tattooed on my fresh flesh.

I cannot free myself

Of one without the other

Losing itself to the madness.

I’m no Jekyll and

Hyde my truth away in closets

Like skeletons and dirty laundry.

I’m a cocktail poet:

One half broken,

The other half

Struggling to grasp

Onto the awesome mercy

I was given when I started

Over.

Under

My thin-skinned heart

Was a thick strength

To keep pushing onward.

Sleep is for the weak

And I’m red eyed from

Pushing myself for the red pen

Reading “A+”

Atop my philosophy paper,

But who will care about

My A’s when they see my

Double D’s?

I’m the symbol of sexuality

And the symbolic logic

Here fails me.

I’m not sexy.

I’m not the symbol I wanted to be.

I’m just me,

Good and bad,

Light and dark,

Beautiful Disaster.

I’m the contradiction.

A wingless bird,

Let me fly free from expectations.

Rain and sun blend into

My skin like ink.

I’m waiting for it all to sink in

And start to make sense

To my senses.

Tear down the defenses

And build up my halves

Like holes, fill them.

I’m a have-to

Half-in-two-parts.

Alis volat propiis,

But those wings

Were an airplane

Taking me back home.

-Seraphine The Poet

Beyond Duality

Dividing our time between consciousness and the extremely necessary periods of rest and memory consolidation, once one starts to notice the elements of duality buried within the human experience, they are almost impossible to ignore. Hot and cold, day and night, young and old, rich and poor, the more we see, the more it all starts to feel predetermined. Finding ourselves saying things like, “thats just the way it is” or “thats the way the world works”, and never realizing just how much we are giving in to monotony. Desirous of patterns,labels, and genre’s , we see everything too easily in black and white, losing sight of the millions of variations that we are capable of comprehending.

As a student of history, I learned more about the horrors of the past and present then I could ever truly process, and frequently found myself immersed in discussions of the inherent goodness or evil of humanity in general. Having had the privilege of knowing many amazing people in my short time on this planet, I have always been of the opinion that human beings were always at least on some base level, inherently good, with some outliers. Finding history filled with countless examples of the contrary, if you focus just right, it is quite easy to become wrapped in the idea that the human being is in fact, probably the most evil species on this planet.

Spending years buried beneath the weight of learning and knowing far too much about the worst moments of humanity, there are few experiences that can compare to attempting to talk yourself down from the precipice of intellectual crises on conscience that comes from historical, psychological, or philosophical binge reading. Finally coming across the concept that, “ one good person disproves the position that all people are evil”, I slowly began coming to terms with mistakes and failures that I had made, extracting the lessons from those situations, and learning how to be a better person. Deep down, I’m pretty sure I’m not perfect, but I am damn sure I’m not evil.

Ultimately coming to similar conclusions about the rest of humanity, in all but the most extreme cases, it seems it is not evil that makes people behave in reprehensible ways, but rather fear, ignorance, and perceived threats to their survival. Although I am not necessarily denying the existence of evil in this world, I just refuse to believe that all human beings are either good or evil, or to confine my world view to a simple dualistic perspective. As conscious beings, we have a choice of how we behave, and whether we value the lives, opinions, and autonomy of others as much as that of ourselves. Given the opportunity everyday to be good or evil, or even apathetic in all our encounters, it is these millions of choices that define so much of our humanity.

-Joshua Genius

The real evil.

With the Government shutdown firmly on its way I decided to write a little about the things that I feel all contribute to the current situation.

Firstly, most people are stupid. Simply put. They believe what the talking heads on Fox news and other right-wing, Tea Party approved outlets are saying. Sad but true.

So we have to educate them as best we can in order to try to have them see common sense and logic not hate filled fear mongering rhetoric.

I was at my usual watering hole playing poker ( regular Friday occurrence) and I sat down and talked to a friend of mine who is a self-confessed TeaParty/Conservative. We spoke about a lot of things and we actually agreed on most.

Now the thing is this man has an IQ in the top 3% . So I was speaking with a man with obvious intelligence. Which isn’t the normal when I talk with most Conservative/Libertarians.

We both agreed that the rich have far too much power and influence in Government.

We also agreed that the energy regulations are totally in favour of the fracking/natural gas/ oil industries as he was suffering from ailments directly attributed to working in the fracking/natural gas/oil industry.

If a self-confessed Teaparty/Christian Conservative and a progressive/socialist can agree on the MAJORITY of issues.

Why can’t anyone else?

-TDB.

The Duality of Logic

I've always been torn between left looking like a fool or write about how I screwed up again. Some relationships were doomed from the start. But too me, not working out the problems would have been giving up. At the same time there was no way either one of us was ready to really settle down for the rest of our young lives so was I fighting a fixed title match? Winner of the inevitable world belt? It's hard to choose between giving up and knowing when you just need to give in when you're in those moments.

I remember one girl I KNEW was cheating on me. She re-upholstered furniture in a shop with just her and her boss. No way they weren't breaking in every couch sent out. So on my next trip out of town I let my drunken alter ego do what he does best. Txt his exes. Next thing I know I'm waking up next to one. Of course the relationship ended shortly after and would later find out after salvaging a genuine friendship that she never turned her back on me. But my certainties at the time were undeniable.

Unquestionable. It's sad how much your logic twist when you lose sight of yourself. You forget just because you're not looking into a mirror you don't see yourself in everything you see. And you hate and resent every reflection shot your way so you try your best to hurt, kill, bury it and after your madness you remember you locked your tell tale heart underneath your current lover's bed sheets and drove yourself crazy over what you refused to admit to yourself. You act like it would admit it to the world, but people already see you. They see how you are, how you act, how you treat those around you. It's no secret to them. It's you, that you play games with shadow puppets and mind tricks giving your fears as consequences to God's lack of love or mercy when the truth is the devil is within.

Since then, I've learned not to act on such "certainties". I can easily recall how ones logic can twist. And things aren't so black and white like dark and light. That lightning can fill up a room and change that staring demon into bed post and at the same time cast new shadows. You have Rome with the punches and build with a new day instead of all the baggage you carry. And once you reach those crossroads you'll know what's dead weight and what to take home. You'll realize right and wrong are all relative and to focus on the center of the universe before you start shooting stars at anyone.

-DCR