Dear Editor,
Let us try to straighten out this rigmarole. The President says he cannot assent to the Bills unless the AG issues an assent certificate. And the AG says he cannot issue an assent certificate unless the President says so (SN,
Sept 21).
Circular reasoning, also known as begging the question or petitio principii, is a logical fallacy. If it is not clear to a lawyer then he is a bad lawyer. This is worse because it is being used as an excuse to do nothing, and at the national level.
I find this in school when I ask students to see if there is a straight line in the graph of their experimental results. They start by drawing the best straight line and then telling me the results give a straight line. They assume the consequent, use it to ‘prove’ the assumption, and think nothing is wrong. Well no wonder, their elders do it openly in public life. I wonder where the AG studied and got his law degree.
Yours faithfully,
Alfred Bhulai
