WRONG APPLICATION OF A CRITERION

A Common Mistake

WRONG application of a criterion is a common mistake. In physical sciences it is an accepted principle that a formula should be demonstrable, else it will fail to find acceptance among the scientific community. In humanities however, this is not possible. You can use certain technical methods in the process of analysis, but in the end you have to make your own inference. 

For example, water changes its state from liquid to the gaseous and starts to boils at 100 degrees Celsius. This natural law was used to develop steam power. Anyone can prove this by heating water and demonstrating that it begins to boil at 100 degrees Celsius.

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Those who apply the principle of demonstrability to the field of humanities have
made ‘road activism’ equivalent to being a demonstration for the truth of an idea.

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Consciously or unconsciously, people make the mistake of applying this principle of physical sciences to humanities. Many ideas were accepted as true because they were apparently demonstrable. Those who inappropriately apply the principle of demonstrability to the field of humanities have made ‘road activism’ equivalent to being a demonstration for the truth of an idea.

The Arab Spring is a good example. These were democratic uprisings that arose independently and spread across the Arab world. Originating in Tunisia in December 2010, they quickly took hold in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. It caught people’s imagination because they were doing a 'road show'. People wrongly considered this road show as demonstration that the Arab Spring was a successful movement. But in practice, the Arab Spring only led to anarchy.

In the humanities, the criterion to evaluate the truth of the matter is the result, not the 'road shows'.