Negative proof

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about a logical fallacy. The term "negative proof" can also refer to a proof of impossibility.

The fallacy of appealing to lack of proof of the negative is a logical fallacy of the following form:

"X is true because there is no proof that X is false."

It is asserted that a proposition is true, only because it has not been proven false. The negative proof fallacy often occurs in the debate of the existence of supernatural phenomena, in the following form:

"A supernatural force must exist, because there is no proof that it does not exist".

However, the fallacy can also occur when the predicate of a subject is denied:

"A supernatural force does not exist, because there is no proof that it does exist.".

[edit] Appropriate occasions

In some cases a reversed burden of proof may be appropriate. This occurs when there are two competing explanations, and neither can be confirmed by observation. For example: when an empirical relationship has been observed, but the underlying mechanism is unknown, it may be reasonable to infer from the lack of conflicting evidence that the observed relationship is most likely causal. (see Inference to the Best Explanation)

Criteria for the best explanation here involve Occam's razor. This states that the best explanation is the most simple — it appeals to the least amount of necessary factors and is still able to predict phenomena.^[1] However, according to the scientific method the relationship is not formally proven in this instance, and to assert that it is so until disproven is fallacious.