Philosophy Stack Exchange
Philosophy Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [evidence]

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Why do I accept some inconsequential claims as "obviously true" without evidence? E.g. "Most people don't like to be hit on the head with a hammer."

There are certain claims that I accept as obviously true without (much) evidence. For example: Most people don't like to be hit on the head with a hammer. Donald Trump ate dinner some time last week. There has yet to be a whale on the moon. I…
Rebecca J. Stones
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Epistemic value of multiple eyewitness accounts: single event vs. multiple events given a fixed number of eyewitnesses?

Intuitively speaking, multiple independent eyewitness accounts of a single event are more convincing than a single eyewitness account. For example, multiple independent eyewitness accounts of a loud explosion in a remote area (e.g. from different…
user48437
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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:…
thinkingman
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Is there an objective standard of sufficient evidence?

It's very common to hear people say that we should only believe claims that are supported by sufficient evidence. Intuitively it seems to make sense, until we realize that this recommendation begs several questions: What is evidence? Can evidence…
user48437
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Can a coincidence be evidence of a god?

If I experience a coincidence or a coincidence happens in the world that seems to be at extremely low odds, does this imply that God exists? If it doesn’t imply that God exists, can it at least make it more likely that God exists? Suppose for…
thinkingman
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Can the simplicity of a hypothesis be objectively measured?

When two or more hypotheses can explain the same evidence, it's commonly affirmed that simpler hypotheses should be preferred over more complex ones. For example, in response to my previous question How do we know (i.e. justify our belief) that time…
user48437
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Are extraordinary first-hand subjective accounts more likely to be true the more people report the same experience?

For illustrative purposes, let's take as an example the following claim X = "I went to sleep, but then I suddenly woke up at 3:00 a.m. feeling a terrifying evil presence, and then my bed began to shake violently" (real life examples: 1, 2). X is…
user48437
4
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2 answers

Is a fallacy involved in perceiving the solution to a long-standing problem as simple and straightforward?

In university (or, school) we're often presented with a problem, and directly afterwards, the solution is presented. Quite often, the solutions presented for a given problem seem painfully obvious, and I am wondering if I commit a logical fallacy in…
Magnus Berg Sletfjerding
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How does the philosophy of science explore original research formulation?

Although rarely admitted or communicated, in scientific research it's quite common to change the originally formulated question once insurmountable obstacles have made an answer difficult or impossible. After having invested so much in research, the…
Madamadam
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What criteria determines if a proposition is mathematical or empirical?

It seems that there is a distinction between mathematical vs empirical statements. For example, consider the proposition “All even numbers greater than two are a sum of two prime numbers.” This statement needs to be proven purely in terms of…
Agnishom Chattopadhyay
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How does one solve this paradox of independent probability?

There seems to be a paradox in my head when it comes to evaluating independent probabilities and it's sort of boggling my head. I am curious as to how to solve it. Suppose I tell my friend to think of a number between 1 to 100,000 and I try to guess…
thinkingman
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Given a positive ontological claim X, is not-X the default position?

Given a positive ontological claim X, I see at least four different subjective positions one could adopt regarding X: I believe that the evidence provides persuasive reason to believe that X is true ("X-ism") I believe that the evidence provides…
user48437
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How "repeatable" does empirical evidence need to be?

To start, I am a proponent of empiricism but feel like I stumbled into a flaw. How come we only accept what we can repeat? ..and how often do I need to be able to repeat to the same conclusion for me to accept it? For instance, if I experienced a…
Noah
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What is the name of the fallacy involving white and black swans?

If one argues: I have seen only white swans, therefore there are no black swans. What would this fallacy be called?
Himmators
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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.…
thinkingman
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