In ancient India, the trivium of grammar, logic and rhetoric was considered to be the fundamental platform for a proper education. Even today, almost all entrance examinations have a logical reasoning component — and for good reason, writes ADHEER SOM
A couple of months ago, an NRI techie friend of mine and I got talking, over drinks, about the possible existence of planes during the Vedic age. We often talk of such things, me and my friends, over drinks. Many of us sincerely believe in several legendary ‘lost civilisations’, various secret societies, all sorts of conspiracy theories and alternate histories; we believe in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Gyanganj, Shambhala, El Dorado, aliens, quantum mechanics, time-travel, bhoots and pishachs.
As a matter of fact, some of us not only believe in but are all for such fantastic exemplars of empowered femininity as chudails, daayans, ichchadhari nagins and bhairavis. We all miss the old IndiaTV very much. I even have a philosophical theory about how India needs to put the tantrik back in theloktantrik. Oh, and I do pooja everday. In other words, I’m not a ‘sickular libtard’; liberal-minded, yes, perhaps even to the point of retardedness, but ‘sickular’IJ Nope. Not me.
See, what got my goat in this chat (that turned into a spat) with my friend about Vedic planes was not that he believed in them utterly, and I was… unsure. No, what got me was the argument he made in support of his belief. It went thus: “The Ramayana says that lord Ram went from lanka to Ayodhya in one day.
The only possible means of transportation that could cover that distance in that time would be an airplane. Therefore, the pushpak viman was real.” “ButRamayan is mythology, not history”, I countered. “It’s not even scripture, strictly speaking.” My friend smiled superiorly. “Duuude”, he drawled, “myth has its basis in fact. All that epic stuff can’t have been written from the imagination, man.”
“I concede”, I smirked, the smirk being the logical rebut to the superior smile, “and further propose, going by the same logic, that the epic stuff in the written mythologies of all civilisations — Christian, Egyptian, Jewish, Mayan, Chinese, Islamic et al — cannot have been written from imagination. So their ‘ancient achievements’ must also be considered pretty great. I mean, sure, our pushpak was glorious, but you have to admit flying carpets must’ve been nice tooIJ”
“You’re being absurd now”, my friend frowned.
“I’m just being logical.”
“@%#* your logic! Go vote for %$#@@*zaadas!” And he downed his drink and upped and left. Pity. If he’d hung around, I would’ve admitted that I was indeed being ‘absurd’ albeit purely in the ancient Indian sense of the word because ancient Indian logicians practically invented the prasanga — the reductio ad absurdum technique of counter-argument.
In fact, ancient India is one of only two civilisations ever to have invented an entire, elaborate, consistent system of logic. Ancient Greece was the other, and ours not only pre-dates theirs by a good bit, it is arguably a good bit better.
Ah the ancient days were the good old days. From Plato’s academy to the gurukul of Yagyavalkya, children were being taught the fundamental trivium — grammar, logic and rhetoric — the knowledge of which was thought essential to the acquisition of any other knowledge or wisdom. The entrance examinations to everywhere tested prospective students on it. Debate was encouraged. Stupidity of argument was not only discouraged but was one of the 22 listed grounds for defeat.
Flash-forward to the present: Entrance examinations to nearly every educational institution and professional service, both in India and abroad, still test candidates on their logical reasoning. Yet, I’ve heard the same Ramayan-based argument a number of times from a number of people since I heard it first from a BJP spokesperson on national TV at primetime.
More disturbingly, I’ve heard it from several young people who are otherwise very bright. And I hear several such arguments every day, in life and on TV. Stupid argumentation, it seems, is everywhere. WhyIJ
The answer is simple: Because they’re not teaching logic in schools any more, and even in colleges, you only get so lucky if you’re graduating in philosophy. To the best of my knowledge, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education is the only one in India that offers logic as an additional subject of the syllabus. The American school system also offers it only as an optional subject, and Chinese schools teach, ahem, morality and ethics, but, of course, no logic.
Ironically, outside of philosophy departments, the only other institutions that offer rigorous training in logic are those affiliated to the largely-Christian classical education movement, and, hold on to your khaki shorts for this one, the Darul-Uloom, Deoband. I repeat, the Darul-Uloom, Deoband, has logic as a compulsory subject of study for the first five years of its flagship eight-year course. And no, it’s not Islamic logic that they’re teaching but the standard Aristotelian — and from the most excellent, vintage Arabic translations and commentaries, I might add.
In light of the above, in the name of all that is good and holy, I implore Prime Minister Narendra Modi (to whom I’ve tweeted many times), Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani (to whose Additional Secretary I’ve emailed), Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (to many of whose close associates I’ve written) Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia (to whom I wrote via the Delhi Education Ministry website’s “write to the Minister” option), Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav (to whom I haven’t written yet because I cannot find an email address for him) and Chief Ministers and Ministers of State for Education throughout India: Please introduce logic as a compulsory subject in all Central and State Boards.
Teach Indian logic or Greek or both, teach it in English or Hindi or Sanskrit or in all of them, but teach it. It’s a real subject. It’s not common sense. Brilliant textbooks for logic studies exist. Teacher-training modules can be developed easily from widely available authentic source material. I, for one, shall be privileged to help in this, pro bono, and I’m sure others shall be similarly inclined. Please, teach logic. It will be good for India, for Indian politics and for Indian primetime television.
(The author is a logician. Sort of)
