Straying (सव्यभिचार हेतु )

Straying is a tactic which many use when the going gets tough in an argument. A trivial example for straying is

  'It will rain today, because today is a Sunday '

Obviously, such an argument is illogical. Hence according to the 'Tarka Shastra' straying is considered to be a flaw in reasoning. Moreover it classifies straying into three categories. Let's briefly see each of them.

i) Common straying ( साधारण सव्यभिचार हेतु ):

Consider the following argument:

'Mountain has fire because it (mountain) can be seen'

At the first look, you can sense that the argument is illogical. Where does it stray from the facts? Even a lake, where fire can't coexist, can be seen. Thus the reason ('can be seen') holds good even for an instance (lake) where the thing to be proved is absent. Such reasoning is called common straying

Some more examples of  common straying

ii) Uncommon straying ( असाधारण सव्यभिचार हेतु ):

Let's look at another argument:

'Sound is eternal because of soundness'

Here, eternality is the thing to be proved. We prove that by citing the existence of soundness. Consider anything which is eternal, like space. You can't find soundness in any such eternal things. Nor can you find soundness, in anything which is not eternal (like a pen). Thus the reason cited is found, neither in some instance which has the thing to be proved, nor in instances  where the thing to be proved is absent. Such a reason doesn't hold good, because it is unique to the given instance. Such a reasoning is called 'Uncommon straying'.

Some more examples of  uncommon straying

iii) Non - exclusive straying: ( )

This is the final sub-division of straying. It can be explained with the following argument:

'Everything is good because it is knowable'.

Don't be baffled by usage of words like 'knowable'. If you can perceive something, either directly or indirectly, then that thing is said to be knowable. In the above argument, the instance considered is everything. Once you've considered everything, there is nothing else left. Thus you can't find either a similar or contradictory instance. Such an argument is called non-exclusive straying.

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