Tricks of Logic

I own a motivational lithograph which pictures a ship sailing on the high seas, with a message that goes something like this:- “If you are afraid to lose sight of the shore, you'd never find new lands”. The message was so inspiring that I (obviously) bought the lithograph. What it said was true. You couldn't dispute the fact that no one could find new lands unless first prepared to lose sight of the shore.

But the motivation kinda died when I saw the lithograph above which pictured very much the same scene, but with a message that is completely opposite. The problem is, it is also true and logical. Now, how could two seemingly opposite statements both be true?

The trick lies on the way the statements are laid out, more to do with language than anything else. You see, both statements do not say that if you do X, Y will follow. They just state that if you do not do X, Y will never follow. Therefore, they are not prescriptive statements, in the sense that they don't really point out what to do, though we get the idea that it is actually motivational. Both statements, when considered thoroughly, carry huge caveats.

Which is why it is dangerous to rely on over-simplified mottos and mission statements. Logic is not always immediately apparent. We might spend half our lives chasing an ideal that is only a half-truth at best.

My lithograph, while focusing on the positive, blinded me from the negative. I could only remember that I'd enjoy finding new lands, and almost forgot that being lost at sea forever is a risk I was not willing to take. Let's leave that kinda stuff to Columbus and company.

But the point is, this world is littered with such half-truths and impure logic. If we do not filter them, we might lose our way.

The above lithograph came from www.despair.com. This website (which actually makes these contrarian lithographs for sale) provides many more such thought-provoking messages that make us realize that all the 'positive thinking' stuff isn't as solid as we thought it to be. Many of the self improvement mantras play on our limited brain power, twisting logic to fit their intentions.

Sometimes it pays to be a little bit cynical.


Copyright © 2008 by Andrew Chua Tuan Li


www.youngprosper.com

http://andrewchua1902.blogspot.com


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