Logically Fallacious: The Ultimate Collection of Over 300 Logical Fallacies (Academic Edition) (Dr. Bo's Critical Thinking Series)

by Bo Bennett

Proving Non-Existence Description: Demanding that one proves the non-existence of something in place of providing adequate evidence for the existence of that something. Although it may be possible to prove non-existence in special situations, such as showing that a container does not contain certain items, one cannot prove universal or absolute non-existence. Logical Form: I cannot prove that X exists, so you prove that it doesn’t. If you can’t, X exists. Example #1: God exists. Until you can prove otherwise, I will continue to believe that he does. Explanation: There may be decent reasons to believe in the existence of God, but, “because the existence of God cannot be disproven,” is not one of them. Example #2: Sheila: I know Elvis’ ghost is visiting me in my dreams. Ron: Yeah, I don’t think that really is his ghost. Sheila: Prove that it’s not! Explanation: Once again we are dealing with confusion of probability and possibility. The inability to, “prove,” in any sense of the word, that the ghost of Elvis is not visiting Sheila in her dreams is an impossible request because there is no test that proves the existence and presence of a ghost, so no way to prove the negative or the non-existence. It is up to Sheila to provide proof of this claim, or at least acknowledge that actually being visited by Elvis’ ghost is just a possibility, no matter how slim that possibility is. Exception: If Ron were to say, “That is impossible,” “there is no way you are being visited,” or mak...