Conservatives, Liberals and Logic

These days, “How can they be so illogical?”, is one of the most common questions I hear people asking in exasperation. Sometimes, “illogical” is replaced with “dumb”, “stupid” etc, but the intent is really to question the “abilities of deduction”. The other variants of this question are “How can they be so evil?”, “How can they be so wrong and not know it?” and so on. In this post, I am only going to talk about the “illogical” nature of “them”. 

I really find that question funny, because most of the time, people asking that question really don’t know what “Logic” means. Let’s revisit something that all of us have learned in middle school.

Logic helps us decide, given a set of premises, if the conclusion of inferences is correct. In other words, it helps us appraise an argument. Using logic, we can objectively assess an argument as either valid or invalid.

We all learned Geometry in school. Euclid constructed the most beautiful edifice in human knowledge, by starting with extremely simple postulates and using them to prove theorems of  increasing complexity. Everything about Euclid’s geometry is absolutely logical.

Except his postulates. They have no logical proof. They are taken as “self evident truths”. For example, one postulates roughly states that it is possible to draw a straight line from any one point to another. There is no way to prove this statement. We assume it to be true and use it for logically proving other theorems. As long as these “axioms” feel trivially true, everyone will be comfortable using them as the starting point.

But what if the axiom doesn’t feel trivially true? That indeed was the problem with Euclid’s 5th, and last postulate about parallel lines. This is a big topic, and I can refer you to Euclid’s Window. By changing the fifth postulate, mathematicians were able to come with completely new Geometries, that are very different but as logical as Euclidean Geometry. As it turns out, they are far more than mathematical curiosities, and the space in which our stars and galaxies operate, indeed follows non-Euclidean Geometry.

What does all this have to do with conservatives and liberals and their logical or illogical arguments? The point is, if the starting premise is different, then the logical argument would lead to a very different conclusion. Duh, you say. OK. So here is the crux. There is simply NO way to logically choose a premise. That whole thing - the inferences, the deductions - that whole logic thing, is what comes afterwards. 

So, it’s totally possible that “they” are making a very logical argument, but “their” premises are vastly different than yours. Here is what you probably don’t want to hear - “their” premises are not worse or better than your premises - they are just different premises.

This is not just a semantic jugglery. This is also not an attempt to whitewash by saying, “everyone is correct”. No. There indeed are a lot of stupid people who make illogical arguments. Their premises are contradictory in nature, and/or their inferences do not follow the rules of Logic. But questions such as “What ought to be” come down to morality, and cannot be settled by logic. Our moral code is driven by our intuitions, which are the result of our evolution by natural selection. Again, a big contentious topic and I can refer you to The Righteous Mind.

This is also not to say that all debates with “them” are on morality. Not at all. For example, when it comes to public policy, effectiveness (usefulness v/s harm) can often be debated objectively, using data analysis. That’s another big topic, as statistical interpretations can also get clouded by confirmation bias and frankly, dishonest intentions.

So now what? How can you convince “them” that “their” argument is illogical? Seriously, if you are still asking that question, you need to read this post again. Instead of looking at the argument, why not look at the premise of that argument? Why not examine it to see if it can be derived from even more fundamental premises, or is it truly subjective?

More importantly, why the need to prove to “them” that “they” are morally wrong? If Mathematics can have internally consistent theories that contradict each other, what’s wrong in a society of humans who hold very contradictory but logical views? Of course it’s not comfortable, but that diversity of thoughts and opinions, you know the thing that we say we celebrate - how about actually celebrating that?