Dr B
17th October 2007, 08:20 AM
Some interesting discussions around here involving our most welcome 'newbies' members would benefit from some new members looking at the information on the main website. Lots of discussions here seem to be united by a lack of appreciation for basic argumentation, reasoning and logic. One conversation on 'God' has already led to a host of Ad-homs from the so-called open minded ;D
Anyway, here is a clip from an article on the main site which addresses what appears to be a very common fallacy. I hope it helps.
"(2) Science cannot disprove the paranormal – therefore, this failure is, by default, support for the existence of paranormal phenomena.
This is a fundamental misunderstanding of a number of central principles of science. It reflects a variety of logical fallacies and mistakes of reason. These include (i) argumentum ad ignorantiam, (ii) a misunderstanding of the difference between the evidence or absence and the absence of evidence, (iii) a misunderstanding of the principles of falsifiability and sufficiency, (iv) a shifting of the burden of proof. These, along with other contextual issues are discussed below.
Argumentum ad ignorantiam basically means the argument to ignorance. The underlying fallacy from the argument to ignorance is when it is argued that something must be true, purely and simply because it has not been proved to be false (or vice versa). Carroll (2004) suggests, this fallacy could also be called the “fallacy from lack of sufficient evidence to the contrary” (Carroll, 2004; pp115). The fallacy of the argument to ignorance is not based in any one individual in an argument being ignorant – it is thus not directed to the individual. The notion of ignorance relates to the form of the argument itself. In this case, to there being ‘no evidence’ and thus, we are ignorant of the potential truth. The crucial point to keep in mind here is that an inability to disprove a claim does not automatically mean that the claim being made is true. An individual might make the claim that he / she can run the 100 metres sprint in under seven seconds (which would be the fastest ever recorded). However, if the person refuses to be tested in a race, our inability to falsify the claim does not make the claim true by default. If this was the case, anybody making a claim like this would be eligible for an Olympic gold medal, without ever having to run a single race! A similar fallacious argument to ignorance would be one that states “as nobody can prove God did not create the universe, it must therefore be true”. The lack of evidence means nothing either way. The fallacy also works in the other direction as well. For example, a statement like; “Of course apparitions do not exist, nobody has provided any proof that they are indeed real” is also an error in reasoning committing the same fallacy. In science, we can make the valid assumption that from the lack of evidence, something has not occurred. However, we cannot conclude with absolute certainty that it has not occurred.
One mistake related to the argument to ignorance is to falsely interpret the absence of evidence as being equal to that of there being evidence of absence. Clearly they are not equal. The crucial point is that although science may not be able to disprove a claim, this is not evidence in support of the claim. Science accepts claims, not just on the basis of the absence of evidence but mainly on the presence of confirming evidence (i.e., positive evidence). There must be positive empirical evidence for accepting any claim or argument as being true. The lack of any evidence itself is not direct support of an alternative paranormal theory. It is completely neutral on the matter. The absence of evidence for Creationism does not, on its own, provide support for the theory of Evolution. The theory of Evolution requires its own positive evidence to establish it as a truth. The confusion over the absence of evidence being the same as evidence of absence is also related to some misunderstandings over the notion of falsification in science."
Anyway, here is a clip from an article on the main site which addresses what appears to be a very common fallacy. I hope it helps.
"(2) Science cannot disprove the paranormal – therefore, this failure is, by default, support for the existence of paranormal phenomena.
This is a fundamental misunderstanding of a number of central principles of science. It reflects a variety of logical fallacies and mistakes of reason. These include (i) argumentum ad ignorantiam, (ii) a misunderstanding of the difference between the evidence or absence and the absence of evidence, (iii) a misunderstanding of the principles of falsifiability and sufficiency, (iv) a shifting of the burden of proof. These, along with other contextual issues are discussed below.
Argumentum ad ignorantiam basically means the argument to ignorance. The underlying fallacy from the argument to ignorance is when it is argued that something must be true, purely and simply because it has not been proved to be false (or vice versa). Carroll (2004) suggests, this fallacy could also be called the “fallacy from lack of sufficient evidence to the contrary” (Carroll, 2004; pp115). The fallacy of the argument to ignorance is not based in any one individual in an argument being ignorant – it is thus not directed to the individual. The notion of ignorance relates to the form of the argument itself. In this case, to there being ‘no evidence’ and thus, we are ignorant of the potential truth. The crucial point to keep in mind here is that an inability to disprove a claim does not automatically mean that the claim being made is true. An individual might make the claim that he / she can run the 100 metres sprint in under seven seconds (which would be the fastest ever recorded). However, if the person refuses to be tested in a race, our inability to falsify the claim does not make the claim true by default. If this was the case, anybody making a claim like this would be eligible for an Olympic gold medal, without ever having to run a single race! A similar fallacious argument to ignorance would be one that states “as nobody can prove God did not create the universe, it must therefore be true”. The lack of evidence means nothing either way. The fallacy also works in the other direction as well. For example, a statement like; “Of course apparitions do not exist, nobody has provided any proof that they are indeed real” is also an error in reasoning committing the same fallacy. In science, we can make the valid assumption that from the lack of evidence, something has not occurred. However, we cannot conclude with absolute certainty that it has not occurred.
One mistake related to the argument to ignorance is to falsely interpret the absence of evidence as being equal to that of there being evidence of absence. Clearly they are not equal. The crucial point is that although science may not be able to disprove a claim, this is not evidence in support of the claim. Science accepts claims, not just on the basis of the absence of evidence but mainly on the presence of confirming evidence (i.e., positive evidence). There must be positive empirical evidence for accepting any claim or argument as being true. The lack of any evidence itself is not direct support of an alternative paranormal theory. It is completely neutral on the matter. The absence of evidence for Creationism does not, on its own, provide support for the theory of Evolution. The theory of Evolution requires its own positive evidence to establish it as a truth. The confusion over the absence of evidence being the same as evidence of absence is also related to some misunderstandings over the notion of falsification in science."