Real Statistics: A Radical Approach, new textbook aims to rebuild the entire discipline on new foundations. Section A of Chapter 1 explains the logical positivist philosophy at the foundations of the conventional approach to statistics. The positivist philosophy arose as a reaction to failure of Christianity to provide sound foundations for public life (it led to continuous warfare). This theory of knowledge rejected all unobservables - not just God and afterlife. But some concepts like probability and causation are inherently and fundamentally unobservable. Since modern statistics is built on positivist foundations, it has been unable to define these terms correctly, to this day. For a writeup of these slides, see HTTP://bit.ly/RSRAb01A

1. Real Statistics:
A Radical Approach
Chapter 1: Introduction
Section A: Preliminaries
Dr. Asad Zaman

2. What is
KNOWLEDGE?
• Do we really need to discuss this?
• Don’t we all know the answer?
• Does abstract philosophy have any impact
on PRACTICAL real-life issues?
• In particular, what does this have to do with
STATISTICS?

3. Wikipedia:
Getting to
Philosophy
• Take any Wikipedia entry.
• CLICK on the first internal link in the article.
• Repeat: Click on first internal link in the new
article.
• In 97% of cases, you will end up with an
entry in the category: Philosophy.
• ALL human knowledge is built on
foundations of Philosophy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Getting_to_Philosophy

4. Early 20th Century:
Radical Change in Theory of Knowledge
• Theory of knowedge is reflected in EDUCATION provided.
• Logical Positivism: New theory of knowledge => SCIENCE is
the only valid form of knowledge.
• Knowledge of EXTERNAL world is OBJECTIVE – same for all.
• Knowledge of our INTERNAL world is SUBJECTIVE –
different for all, NOT science.

5. Logical
Positivism:
Impact on
Public
Thinking
• Just give me the FACTS, I don’t want your
opinions.
• FACTS are knowledge (scientific).
• OPINIONS are not important.
• People think of this as an obvious truth.
• Actually, this is the conclusion of a WRONG
philosophy of knowledge (LP).

6. Logical
Positivism:
Impact on
Education
• Change in theory of knowledge led to change in curriculum
• Julie Reuben: Making of the Modern University: Intellectual
Transformation and the Marginalization of Morality.
• Early 20th Century: Goal of Education is to build
CHARACTER.
• Character, Social Responsibility, Leadership Skills – no
longer “scientific” knowledge. Dropped from Education.
• Purely TECHNICAL education, without any attention to
personal development.
Marginalization of Morality in Modern Education
http://bit.ly/AZmme

7. LP: Binary
Truth and
Empiricist
Knowledge
• Statements must be either TRUE or FALSE.
• We must be able to EVALUATE truth or falsehood
EMPIRICALLY.
• There must be, POTENTIALLY, an experiment, such that
outcome will tell us if a given statement is true or false.
• If a statement CANNOT be evaluate empirically
(experimentally) for truth/falsehood, then such a
statement is MEANINGLESS.

8. What does LP
reject as
KNOWLEDGE?
• Moral statements cannot be TESTED emprically.
• “It is wrong to kill innocents”
• What experiment will tell us if this is true or false?
• LP => Morality is meaningless noise!
• Emotivist theory of morality: Morality is an emotional
reaction – without logical basis.
• Morality is NOT part of human knowledge!

9. Meaning of Life:
• What is the best possible way to spend the
precious few moments of life we have been
granted on this Earth?
• LP: Question itself is meaningless.
• Science cannot answer the question. No
experiments possible.
• Answers are subjective – different for each
individual.
• Question is not part of knowledge, and not
discussed in modern university education.
• The MOST important questions we face in our
lives are not part of a University education.

10. LP: A Toxic Theory of
Knowledge
• Students left on their own, without answers to critical
questions about how we should lead our lives.
• Disastrous results apparent in outcomes of educational
system.
• Modernity and the Holocaust: It was not barbarians and
savages, but the products of the finest educational systems
who designed gas chambers to burn millions of Jews.
• Graduates of Yale devised plans to kill millions of innocent
Vietnamese.
• Designer of Atom Bomb testified to the light show, before
mention death and destruction that would be caused.

11. A Personal Account
• Lessons MIT Did Not Teach Me!
• http://bit.ly/mit4az
• As a teenager, an MIT education failed to
provide me with the guidance that I
desperately needed.
• This led to a meaningless life, in pursuit of
meaningless goals, until Allah T’aala had
mercy on me, and led me to a search for
guidance.
• For more details, see my Autobiographical
Interview:
• http://bit.ly/AZbiog

12. Knowledge requires Metaphysical Foundations
Discovery of Imam Al-Ghazali: Evidence of our senses, and our logic,
both subject to doubt and error. The NOOR of guidance, planted in our
hearts by Allah, is the key to all knowledge.
Western Philosophers: We CAN start from ZERO and arrive at
knowledge (epistemic arrogance)
Descartes: I think therefore I am
Rationalists: Knowledge comes from LOGIC
Empiricists: Knowledge comes from the senses.
Logical Positivists: Knowledge comes from logic and senses.

13. All human knowledge rests on
meta-physical foundations
• Failure to discuss metaphysics is not NEUTRAL.
• It leads to poisonous moral foundations.
• “STATISTICS” is also built on toxic moral foundations.
• It was born out the Eugenics Project to prove racial
superiority of whites.
• Statistical tools were developed for this purpose
• The field remains tied to these racist origins, even though
the contrary is widely believed.

14. Conclusion of Chapter 1, Section A of:
Real Statistics: A Radical Approach
Ongoing Online Course. Register for course at: http://bit.ly/AZRealStats
Registrations will be open until 2nd October 2022.
Online course will be synchronous, and cover one chapter every two
weeks, concluding on 26th Feb 2023.
Some time after registrations close, an asynchronous version of the
course (self-paced) will be offered via the same link (registration page)
given above.