Friday 18 October 2013

The Burden Of Proof


I think I have the correct understanding of the burden of proof, whereas I have heard foggy misunderstandings of it. It isn't a matter of the positive or negative, but it is upon the claim that goes contrary to ESTABLISHED reality unless each claim is equal. (Like two witnesses, one person's word against the others'.)

For example, if I were to claim, "I am NOT human", would the burden of proof be upon you, to prove the positive, to the contrary? No it would not. It would be upon me to prove the negative because all of the established facts show that I am human. Therefore, you have to follow the burden, NOT the positive. It can, in some cases, be difficult to prove a negative but that is only part of the problem, not the whole of it.

We must now combine two accurate axioms.

1. The greater a claim, the greater the burden of proof. 
2. The burden of proof is upon the claim that goes against established reality.

Let's say I made a claim that I could fly exactly in the same manner as superman. Firstly, it is a great claim, because the laws of physics have not been shown to be broken, inductively. Secondly, the burden of proof is upon me. The requirement would also NOT be evidence, the requirement would be PROOF. If I was not able to prove it, then logically the onus would ONLY ALWAYS be upon me to continually evidence it. For example, many photographs of me flying like superman, and many eyewitnesses, would NOT be enough.

What can we conclude?

1. It doesn't matter how much evidence you have for a great claim, it doesn't prove it.
2. You NEVER release yourself from the burden of proof because of the size of the claim.
3. You need to prove it for it to become true knowledge.

With these things in mind, it is inescapable that the theory of evolution is a grand claim. To say that ultimately, somewhere down the line, trees are related to fleas and hairy knees, is no small claim. To say a land mammal slowly can change into a whale, is no small claim. ERGO, the burden of proof, though placed on the Creationists shoulders through assertion, is actually, logically, not upon the person that believes that whales have always begotten whales, and humans, humans. These things require no empirical evidence, in order to believe them. But to believe a quadruped mammal evolved eventually into a whale, is not only a monumentally great claim, but it requires exponentially MORE evidential and logical steps, than the mere reproduction of a whale.

To claim humans have begotten humans is 100% observed induction, to claim molecules-to-man is 0%. To say the burden of proof is upon me for saying humans have always been human, is silly, because I am merely describing a fact of reality, whereas to say molecules-to-man evolution should be accepted as proven fact, is fallacious. The burden of proof is upon the great claim, that goes against reality, reality shows 100% of humans begetting humans.

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