Questions tagged [evidence]
53 questions
8
votes
12 answers
Is there such a thing as weak evidence?
I recently came upon a video by a YouTuber named Alex O’ Connor who talks about how you can have evidence that increases your credence in a claim but not enough to “push it” over 50%. For anyone who’s interested, here’s the video:…
user62907
3
votes
4 answers
Is absence of evidence evidence of absence in the case of god or not?
I know that this is a common question but the question is usually posed in a generic context. I’m interested in whether this principle applies specifically to god. I’ve seen philosophers talk about how this is context dependent. A lot of this…
user62907
3
votes
1 answer
How does one know if X is evidence of Y?
How does one know if X is evidence of Y? If one cannot think of a reason as to why X implies Y, is this the same as saying that X is evidence of Y?
For example, clearly, if I see a plane, that isn’t evidence that someone in my house got murdered.…
user62907
1
vote
2 answers
Shouldn’t every claim require the same amount of evidence?
There is a common adage that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. A common example is of someone telling you that they watered their plants which you would reasonably believe since it’s ordinary. You would ask for more evidence…
user62907
1
vote
2 answers
Is there a principle in philosophy that tells you not to look at evidence in isolation?
Suppose one is testing whether or not a person is a psychic who says that God has given him special powers. He guesses a number between 1 to 10 that you’re thinking of where you try to think of a fresh number each time. He does this 10 straight…
user62907
1
vote
5 answers
Is what's considered evidence for something ultimately subjective?
Imagine we are trying to conclude whether or not one someone is a prophet. How much evidence will we need to conclude this? Is the answer to this ultimately subjective?
For example, if John makes no prediction, then we are certain that he's not a…
user62907
1
vote
5 answers
Is having no good reason to believe something the same as having no evidence?
What exactly does it mean to not have evidence of something? Is it functionally and exactly equivalent to having no reason to believe in something?
Let us take the example of God. Let us now imagine three events occurring.
Event A: I wake up…
user62907
1
vote
0 answers
How does one differentiate between different theories that each seem to have no evidence?
Before the DNA molecule was observed or had any predictive or explanatory power, anyone could have said that there is no evidence for it if it was simply proposed. However, the notion of a molecule was observed and existed before DNA. Hence, the…
user62907