Asiddha (unproved reason)

Biological Parallel

The asiddha fallacy—asserting explanations before establishing mechanisms—pervades biology. For decades, FOXP2 was called the 'language gene' based on one family's speech disorder, but later work (2008-2018) showed it regulates motor speech in birds, mice, and humans—not language per se—and the claimed human-specific selection signal disappeared. Conversely, lactase persistence was an adaptive story ('dairy cultures evolved to digest milk') until 2002 when researchers identified the -13910 C>T variant in the MCM6 gene, then found *different* mutations producing the same effect in African pastoralists (2007)—mechanism proven through convergent evolution. Prairie voles seemed to prove oxytocin bonding until 2023 CRISPR knockouts showed voles without oxytocin receptors still formed pairs, revealing redundancy nobody predicted. Peppered moth melanism was explained as camouflage adaptation for a century until 2016 transposon mapping pinpointed the exact insertion event in 1819. The Nyāya tradition's demand: prove the reason exists before using it to explain. Hypotheses become explanations only when mechanisms are demonstrated. Unproved reasons are narrative placeholders—FOXP2 as placeholder collapsed; lactase persistence as placeholder solidified.