 argument from ignorance (), also known as appeal to ignorance (in which ignorance stands for "lack of evidence to the contrary"), is a fallacy in informal logic. it asserts that a proposition is true because it has not yet been proven false (or vice versa). this represents a type of false dichotomy in that it excludes a third option, which is that there is insufficient investigation and therefore insufficient information to prove the proposition satisfactorily to be either true or false. nor does it allow the admission that the choices may in fact not be two (true or false), but may be as many as four, # true # false # unknown between true or false #being unknowable (among the first three). in debates, appeals to ignorance are sometimes used to shift the burden of proof. the fallaciousness of arguments from ignorance does not mean that one can never possess good reasons for thinking that something does not exist, an idea captured by philosopher bertrand russell's teapot, a hypothetical china teapot revolving about the sun between earth and mars; however this would fall more duly under the arena of pragmatism, wherein a position must be demonstrated or proven in order to be upheld, and therefore the burden of proof is on the argument's proponent. see also occam's razor ("prefer the explanation with the fewest assumptions"). == overview == ===basic argument=== arguments that appeal to ignorance rely merely on the fact that the veracity of the proposition is not disproven to arrive at a definite conclusion. these arguments fail to appreciate that the limits of one's understanding or certainty do not change what is true. they do not inform upon reality. that is, whatever the reality is, it does not "wait" upon human logic or analysis to be formulated. reality exists at all times, and it exists independently of what is in the mind of anyone. and the true thrust of science and rational analysis is to separate preconceived notion(s) of what reality is, and to be open at all times to the observation of nature as it behaves, so as truly to discover reality. this fallacy can be very convincing and is considered by some gracyk's expl
Ignorance Relevance_fallacies