Critical appraisal of an article on "emperor ashoka: did he suffer from von- recklinghausen's disease?"

Author: 
Rajnish Raj., Rakesh Tilak Raj., Jagdish Chandra Joshi and Nisha Bhagat

Background: Phakos in Greek means "mother spot, mole or freckle.” There are various types of phakomatoses e.g., neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis (TSC) and cutaneous angiomatosis with central nervous system abnormalities. Neurofibromatosis are of four types e.g., Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1), also called von Recklinghausen's disease or 'peripheral' type; Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF-2), 'bilateral acoustic neuromas' central type; localized form of the disease, 'segmental neurofibromatosis' and cutaneous form limited to pigmentary changes. However, tuberous sclerosis (TSC) is characterized by triad of adenoma sebaceum, shagreen patch, epilepsy, and mental retardation or learning difficulties. Methods and Materials: A textual analysis of an article written by Wig et al., 2015 "Emperor Ashoka: Did he suffer from von- Recklinghausen's disease?" was taken and subject to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Truth-table to show whether a propositional expression is logically valid. Results: The analysis reveals distortion of facts due to perceptual and
intellectual bias. The results should be interpreted with caution as it covertly, maligns historical event. Conclusion: It is concluded that truth should be interpreted in the light of scientific methodology rather than on individual’s inspiration or experiential knowledge, which is a metaphysical truth.

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DOI: 
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2017.7444.1150
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