■ Logical thinking before Dong Yu's tomb
In the 1960s and 1970s, I taught in Shepu Village, Xintong Township. According to the villagers, there is a tomb of Dong Yu of the Qing Dynasty on a small hillside in the east of the village. Earlier, the cemetery was surrounded by pines and cypresses, and a pair of stone pillars towered in front of the tomb, known as the "General Pillar"; on both sides of the tomb road, there were stone Weng Zhong, stone horses, stone sheep, and stone tigers, which were very grand. In the mid-1950s, the tomb was stolen and excavated. It is said that tomb robbers stole a Western-made pocket watch, but other than that, they found nothing.
I had heard that Dong Yu had been in the Qing court for more than thirty years, but I couldn't imagine that "Shepu", a small mountain village by the Fuchun River, was actually his resting place. Hearing the villagers say this, I gladly went to pay respects.
On a small hillside surrounded by green hills on three sides, the tomb sits facing north and south, facing both the Fuchun River and the Longmen Mountain. At that time, the cemetery was overgrown and deserted. After the stone pillars, stone horses, stone sheep, etc. in front of the tomb were smashed and destroyed, they were simply regarded as waste use, and the stone material was used as the foundation of the tile kiln, leaving only a pair of stone tigers and a pair of horse heads. Fortunately, a bluestone tombstone still exists, and the inscription is still faintly recognizable. I leaned over to discern it, and inscribed:
Emperor Qing awarded Guanglu Dafu Jingfu Wenhuadian University Scholar Jin Gift Taifu Xiankao Dong Wengong Gong □ and Emperor Qingjin Presented Shuren Xiansheng Concubine Song Taishuren Joint Burial Tomb
"Guanglu Dafu", "Jingfeng Lecturer", "Taifu", and "Scholar of Wenhuadian University" are indeed the titles of Dong Yu's identity, and this stele is enough to prove that this is dong Yu's tomb. I bowed respectfully to this former sage of Fuchun. There are no incense candles, no offerings, only a pious heart.
Many years passed, until after the country's reform and opening up, the government finally allocated special funds to rebuild the tomb of Dong Xuan, and a pair of stone tigers who had been displaced for nearly half a century also returned to the cemetery. I once again returned to my hometown where I had worked and lived for more than 20 years, and came to the newly renovated cemetery of Dong Yu, once again paying tribute to this ancestor who deserves our eternal admiration.
Standing in front of the tomb, I pondered for a long time. Throughout his life, Dong Yu was incorruptible, and he was indeed a model of officialdom, and he should be famous in the annals of history and pass through the ages. However, how could a mad thief have thought of digging his grave? How could someone unscrupulously smash the furnishings of the cemetery and use it as the stone material for building a kiln? When I was struggling with confusion, I suddenly seemed to have a realization: maybe things are bad in logical judgment?
All the great officials have valuable funerals (big premises) - Dong Yu is a big official (small premise) - there must be funerary items worth taking risks in Dong Yu's tomb (conclusion). This is the logical judgment of the grave robbers.
Everything that is sealed is destroyed (the big premise) - Dong Yu is a feudal bureaucrat (small premise) - Dong Yu's tomb should be destroyed (conclusion). This is the logical judgment of those who smashed the cemetery furniture.
Logical judgment, also known as syllogism reasoning, consists of two premises and a conclusion. The big premise is the general principle, the small premise is the individual object, and the conclusion is drawn in the reasoning from the general to the individual. However, a correct logical judgment is conditional, and if the size of the premise is correct, the conclusion is correct; if the large premise or the small premise is wrong, then the deduced conclusion cannot be correct. In the above two logical judgments, there is obviously a fallacy of premise.
Let's start with the grave robbers. According to historical records, in the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), Dong Yu was 60 years old, and had been promoted from Shu Jishi, Editor, Gongbu Shilang, Military Aircraft Minister, Dongge University Scholar, etc., to Wenhuadian University Scholar, and was given the "Forbidden City Horseback Riding". Forty years of direct military aircraft, it is an indisputable fact that officials have been in a pin, so Dong Yu is a high-ranking official in feudal society, which is true. However, the tomb robbers do not understand that officials and officials are different, some extravagant, some incorruptible, some rich, some with two sleeves of fresh wind, not all high-ranking officials have valuable burials. The tomb robbers did not know what kind of person Dong Huan was. It is said that After his death, Dong Yu's family situation was still like a cold door, just like the Jiaqing Emperor's tribute to the poems, and he was a high official who "only passed on the article to his nephews, and there was absolutely no money to put in the field". Therefore, the big premise of the logical judgment that "all the great officials have valuable burials" is wrong, and the conclusion that "there must be funerary goods worthy of desperate risks in Dong Chen's tomb" cannot be established. Therefore, it is reasonable to disappoint this grave robber.
Let's talk about the people who smashed the cemetery furniture. First of all, during the "Cultural Revolution," it was a mistake to call all ancient, old, and old things "things that are sealed and repaired," without screening or distinguishing between them, and not knowing what is the essence and what is the dross; still less did they know that Dong Chen's calligraphy was exquisite, he was good at painting, his life was simple, he was approachable, he was never arrogant, he was deeply praised by his neighbors, and he was honest and honest as an official all his life, unlike some feudal bureaucrats who relied on power, did evil deeds, fished and fleshed the people, and sought self-interest. Therefore, the large and small premises in the logical judgment are fallacies, so the conclusion that "Dong Yu's tomb should be destroyed" cannot be correct.
Today, the government has restored the cemetery and identified it as a municipal cultural relics protection unit in Hangzhou and a patriotic education base in Fuyang District. To be sure, the logical judgment is that both "immovable cultural relics" and "movable cultural relics" should be protected (big premise) - Dong Yu's tomb is "immovable cultural relics" (small premise) - Dong Yu's tomb should be protected (conclusion). Since both the big premise and the small premise are correct, the conclusion is correct.
It can be seen from this that the unfortunate encounter of Dong Yu's tomb lies entirely in the logical judgment of the parties concerned that such and such problems have occurred. It can be generally inferred that many absurd things in the world are also caused by the confusion of logical judgment. I don't think that needs to be an example.
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