Burden of proof (philosophy)

The burden of proof (Latin: onus probandi) is the job of a person who is involved in a debate to show proof for their claim.

When people are in a discussion and one makes a claim that the other one does not agree with, the one who makes the claim has the burden of proof. It means he must show proof of that claim, especially when it is controversial.^[1]

Carl Sagan said that: "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" – which is known as the Sagan standard.^[2]

Often these philosophical debates moved from what the claim was to debating who has the "burden of proof" or the best proof for their claim.^[3]

The burden of proof also exclaims when the accuser makes an accusation, they have the burden of proof to prove that what they said is true with evidence.

Related pages

Russell's teapot

References

↑ Cargile, James (1997). "On the burden of proof". Philosophy (Journal). 72 (279). Cambridge University Press: 59–83. doi:10.1017/s0031819100056655. S2CID 170772287.
↑ Marc Kaufman, First Contact: scientific breakthroughs in the hunt for life beyond Earth. Simon and Schuster, p. 124.
↑ Dennett, Daniel C. (July 1988). "Review of Psychosemantics by Jerry Fodor". The Journal of Philosophy. 85 (7): 384–389 (389). doi:10.2307/2026956. JSTOR 2026956. Fodor is too wise to think his series of arguments can flat disprove the claims of the opposition, so time and again he resorts to claims about shifting the burden of proof, begging the question, outsmarting by embracing the conclusions of reductios, and other exploitations of the rules of the game. The book is a tireless exercise of that philosopher's pasttime, burden-tennis. Burden, burden, who has the burden of proof now? Fodor mostly plays solitaire burden-tennis, against an imaginary opponent often personified as Granny or Aunty, which permits him to express the opposition view in terms that suit his rebuttal, without having to address the issue of whether this is a sympathetic rendering of any real opponent's claims.

This short article can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.

[1] Cargile, James (1997). "On the burden of proof". Philosophy (Journal). 72 (279). Cambridge University Press: 59–83. doi:10.1017/s0031819100056655. S2CID 170772287.

[2] Marc Kaufman, First Contact: scientific breakthroughs in the hunt for life beyond Earth. Simon and Schuster, p. 124.

[3] Dennett, Daniel C. (July 1988). "Review of Psychosemantics by Jerry Fodor". The Journal of Philosophy. 85 (7): 384–389 (389). doi:10.2307/2026956. JSTOR 2026956. Fodor is too wise to think his series of arguments can flat disprove the claims of the opposition, so time and again he resorts to claims about shifting the burden of proof, begging the question, outsmarting by embracing the conclusions of reductios, and other exploitations of the rules of the game. The book is a tireless exercise of that philosopher's pasttime, burden-tennis. Burden, burden, who has the burden of proof now? Fodor mostly plays solitaire burden-tennis, against an imaginary opponent often personified as Granny or Aunty, which permits him to express the opposition view in terms that suit his rebuttal, without having to address the issue of whether this is a sympathetic rendering of any real opponent's claims.

[1]

[2]

[3]