A person’s intelligence is often judged by how they are able to communicate. Someone who stutters and stammers or who uses coarse language is generally viewed as immature or unintelligent. This is the general stereotype that is attached people from rural areas, i.e. “hicks from the sticks”. The educated are viewed as more intelligent because they can articulate thoughts very well and also can successfully craft arguments and defend them against attacks. But just because someone speaks eloquently, does it mean they are smart?
A good lawyer uses negation as their primary tactic when arguing cases. Any claim or statement can easily be broken down or defeated simply by using negation. For example, most people widely accept the fact that the sky is blue. Yet someone else can question that statement by asking, “How do you know the sky is blue? Do you know what blue is? Who taught you what is blue and what is not? And who taught them? How do we know that they are not wrong? Just because everyone else believes the sky is blue, does that make it so?” This is a simple example of how negation works, but in the legal arena, it can be taken much further. Jurists can question authority and even cite prior case law in their favor. Word jugglery is the name of the game. A good lawyer will pick apart the text of a law and try to interpret the words to have a new meaning that buttresses their position.
Ad hominem is a very popular fallacy, which is easily recognizable. Person A will make a claim such as “Chocolate chip cookies taste good.” Person B will then say, “Well, Person A is overweight and a liar. Hence, his statement is false. Chocolate chip cookies don’t taste good.” The fallacy of this argument is quite obvious. Person B has not even addressed the issue of how chocolate chip cookies taste. Whether Person A is overweight or dishonest has nothing to do with the validity of their statement.
Tu quoque is another commonly used fallacy. Examples of this can be found almost daily when watching the news. In America, the news typically focuses around the actions of government, and more specifically, the President. The President is always saying something, signing some legislation, or meeting with a group of people. The President’s detractors always look for ways to criticize him. It is quite common for a politician to make the claim, “President A has just agreed to raise taxes. This will be horrible for the economy and the country.” In response, another politician will say, “Well, President B, President A’s predecessor, also passed a similar tax increase bill. I didn’t hear you complaining back then.” This is another obvious fallacy because whether or not President B performed the same action is irrelevant to the claim made about President A. The second politician doesn’t address the claim made by the first politician, thus they have no basis to disprove it.
The Straw Man fallacy is another commonly used logical trick. Person A makes the claim that “Government healthcare is a bad idea because it takes away freedom. Care will be rationed and there will be no control on demand.” In response, Person B says, “People who are against government healthcare want sick people do die. They don’t care enough for the poor and they’d rather see people denied medical treatment than fork over any of their own money.” Person B has twisted Person A’s argument into something easier to attack. Person A is not addressing the larger issue of helping people pay for medical care, but rather a smaller issue of government run healthcare. Person B knows that Person A will have a harder time arguing against the idea of sick people dying, therefore they twisted the argument. Person B’s argument is a fallacy because they have not addressed the claim made by Person A.
Armed with knowledge of the various fallacies, we can get a better understanding of just how often they are used. It is much easier to defend an argument or defeat another’s claims by using a fallacy than it is to use normal logic. In this sense, we see that many of the people that are viewed as intelligent are actually just very good at word jugglery. Their arguments, by themselves, don’t have much to stand on. In reality, logic itself has limits. The Vedas, the ancient scriptures of India, tell us that the material world is composed of five gross elements and three subtle elements, one of which is the mind. Logic, math, and science are products of the human mind. As great as we take the human brain to be, it is nonetheless a product of material nature, meaning it is subject to defects.
Lord Chaitanya, being Krishna Himself, wanted to prove the folly of relying simply on negation, and to establish the superiority of devotional service to the Lord. He talked with a famous Mayavadi sannyasi named Prakashananda Sarasvati, and converted him into a devotee of Krishna. Lord Chaitanya was known primarily for His great exhibition of loving sentiments towards Radha and Krishna. He started the sankirtana movement, the congregational chanting of the holy names of God. He and His associates would tour India and loudly chant the maha-mantra, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”.
Lord Chaitanya’s logical explanations supported His most important teaching: that Krishna is beyond the realm of thinking. Any argument can be picked apart through negation or through logical tricks, but Krishna is beyond fallacy or any other arguing technique. Lord Chaitanya was the smartest person of His time, yet He used His intelligence to always chant the names of Krishna. This sort of activity seems simplistic, but that is the whole point. Logic and argument are products of material nature and they can easily draw the mind away from the real mission of life, that of knowing and loving God.
"If you are indeed interested in logic and argument, kindly apply it to the mercy of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. If you do so, you will find it to be strikingly wonderful.” (Chaitanya Charitamrita, Adi 8.15)
