Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Burden of Proof

  • The Political Burden of Proof

    As contemporary 'liberals' become ever more extreme, they increasingly assume what I call the political burden of proof.  The onus is now on them to defeat the presumption that they are so  morally and intellectually obtuse as  to not be worth talking to.

  • The Political Burden of Proof: Polite Version

    As contemporary 'liberals' become ever more extreme, they increasingly assume what I will call the political burden of proof.  The onus is now on them to defeat the presumption that they are so  morally and intellectually obtuse as not to be worth talking to.

  • Burden of Proof, Appeal to Ignorance, Safety Considerations, and God

    Here at Maverick Philosopher: Strictly Philosophical

  • Rethinking the Presumption of Atheism

    Keith Burgess-Jackson just sent me his article Rethinking the Presumption of Atheism (Int J Philos Relig (2018) 84:93-111). I hope to read it soon.

  • Political Burden of Proof

    As contemporary 'liberals' become ever more extreme, they increasingly assume what I will call the political burden of proof.  The onus is now on them to defeat the presumption that they are so  morally and intellectually obtuse as not to be worth talking to.

  • Harry Reid on Burden of Proof

    Here: Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate, was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash this week if he regretted his 2012 accusation on the Senate floor that GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney “hasn’t paid taxes for ten years.” Reid presented no evidence at the time and claimed he didn’t need any: “I don’t think…

  • Ad Ignorantiam and the Law

    The day before yesterday I wrote, In a criminal case the probative bar is set very high: the accused has to be shown guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  Here too there seems to be a legitimate appeal to ignorance: if it has not been shown that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, the…

  • Burden of Proof, Appeal to Ignorance, Safety Considerations, and God

    Presumption and Burden of Proof Firearms instructors sometimes say that every gun is loaded.  That is plainly false as it stands, but a wise saying nonetheless if interpreted to mean: every gun is to be presumed loaded until proven unloaded. Presumptions are procedural rules.  To presume every gun to be loaded is to adopt a…

  • Paul Draper on God and the Burden of Proof

    A concise paper by a pro in the philosophy of religion.  For now I simply note its existence and availability.  Some discussion later perhaps.  See also Massimo Pigliucci, The Delicate Issue of Burden of Proof.

  • Disputation and Burden of Proof: A Round with Professor Novak

    I proposed for consideration a bit of dialog: A: The law of noncontradiction (LNC) is a law of thought merely. B: I dispute your claim. LNC is not a law of thought merely; it is also a law of extramental reality. In this example, B disputes what A says by making a counter-claim, a counter-assertion.…

  • Parsimony, Burden of Proof, and God

    From an e-mail by Spencer Case: . . . by my lights, parsimony might be a consideration that puts the burden of proof on the theist. Theories that multiply entities unnecessarily are less likely to be true and the theist's theory postulates an entity. Now, it may be that the theist will say that we…

  • Peter van Inwagen on Burden of Proof in Philosophy

    Andrew Bailey sends the following quotations for our delectation: "(When a philosopher says, "The burden of the proof lies on you", he means, "You must deduce your conclusion from the truths of immediate sensory experience by means of an argument that is formally valid according to the rules of elementary logic; I on the other…

  • Are Burden-of-Proof Considerations Relevant in Philosophy?

    1. The question this post raises is whether it is at all useful to speak of burden of proof (BOP) in dialectical situations in which there are no agreed-upon rules of procedure that are constitutive of the 'game' played within the dialectical situation.  By a dialectical situation I mean a context in which orderly discussion…

  • Who Put the BOP. . .

    . . . in the bop sha bop sha bop?  Who was that man?  I'd like to shake his hand.

  • Two Putative Counterexamples to My Burden-of-Proof Thesis

    A reader presents two putative counterexamples to my claim that burden-of-proof considerations have no useful role to play in philosophy: I agree that BOP’s in the legal sense don’t exist in philosophical argument, but there seems to be something like a BOP in certain kinds of philosophical debate. I’ll give you two examples and let…