Burdens of Proof in Modern Discourse [Book Review]

Review of Metaphysics 47 (4):814-815 (1994)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The argument from ignorance is an informal fallacy that holds either that a statement not known to be true or proven true is false, or a statement not known to be false or proven false is true. For example, some creationists hold that since the theory of evolution has not been proven to be true, it is false. There is, however, a subtlety to this fallacy that is exploited in Richard H. Gaskins's far-ranging study of rhetoric and persuasion in modern legal, philosophical, and scientific communities. The argument can assert that no evidence to support a claim entails that the claim is false if all the relevant supporting or refuting evidence has been collected. Thus, if a creationist claims that the earth was created some five thousand years ago, a critic could reply that abundant evidence refutes the claim. This additional claim in the argument, however, involves controversies about appropriate and adequate evidence, as well as questions of what Gaskins calls "finality and legitimacy." How long should one proceed with the search for evidence and how should one justify the procedures?

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 93,990

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Burdens of Proof in Modern Discourse. [REVIEW]Raymond A. Belliotti - 1995 - International Studies in Philosophy 27 (2):114-116.
R. H. GASKINS "Burdens of proof in modern discourse". [REVIEW]D. Felipe - 1995 - History and Philosophy of Logic 16 (1):152.
Burdens of Proof in Modern Discourse (review).Gerald Prince - 1994 - Philosophy and Literature 18 (1):148-149.
Argument from Fallacy.Christian Cotton - 2018-05-09 - In Robert Arp, Steven Barbone & Michael Bruce (eds.), Bad Arguments. Wiley. pp. 125–127.

Analytics

Added to PP
2012-03-18

Downloads
31 (#504,102)

6 months
1 (#1,722,767)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Robert D'Amico
University of Florida

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references