You CAN Prove a Negative!

Despite the conventional wisdom, it turns out that you can prove a negative.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• cousinomacul
• philosophy
• atheism
• rhetoric
• proof

[tillnow67]

There are no square circles. Negative universal statement. All that is needed to prove it is a basic understanding of what defines squares and circles. Prove that they are by definition contradictory and cannot exist in the same entity and you have proven that they don't exist.

[CousinoMacul]

I thought I mentioned tautologies in the video.

[frazzzer8888]

Pure semantics.

To use the unicorns example, an idiot may claim "Unicorns Exist". A rational person would refute it. The idiot would then say "You have to PROVE they DON'T exist,otherwise it means they DO exist."

NO. The BURDEN of proof is not on the person to prove unicorns DO NOT exist.

It's 100% on the person who makes the claim that unicorns DO exist. If they can prove it, all the power to them.

[CousinoMacul]

Semantics are important because they are the instrument of all debate.

I understand burden of proof and I agree with you. My qualm is with the claim "you can't prove a negative" which while I understand what is usually meant by that and I realize that it's usually brandied out as a response to an ineptitude like "you can't prove god doesn't exist', doesn't change the fact that the claim is just wrong.

If one is going to refute bad arguments, one should do it correctly (imo).

[simplewebportal]

You can't prove a universal negative, that's correct. But you can prove a universal positive: all triangles in the inverse have a sum of the angles equal to 180º. That's because you have the definition of a triangle and you use it as a fact to prove the positive. And it's universal. Thank you.

[urpaderpa]

@velardur But pigs cant fly. I dont care about any "You cant prove a negative."

There isn't. It ends there. Pigs dont fly. Maybe they will develop wings and fly in the future, but they cant now.

Thats it, stop fiddling with philosophical quotes, as flying pigs dont exist ATM, I just ignore these super specific quotes. Sure scientifically, with mathematics and stuff, yeah sure cant prove a negative, but save the time, set yourself strong and make the confident statement.

Pigs cant fly.

[velardur]

@tillnow67 sorry,..but that isnt prove of a negative because there are no square circles simply because they apply to theoretical, man-made, non-existing objects in itself,....i know this sounds strange,..but if you dont understand this, you dont understand the meaning of a "negative"...

like you say it, it is easy to prove God doesnt exist, because all-powerfull beings cannot exist, for it is impossible do do the things you cannot do,but all powerful beings must be able to do so: contradiction

[velardur]

When you say: there are no quarters in my hand, and then you open your hand,..you havent proven a negative,...

you have proven a positive because you stated that there are no quarters in your hand...

sigh, the humanity,...

it is, in fact, impossible to prove a negative:

for example: it is imposible to prove there are no flying pigs,..because it is impossible to check every pig on the planet earth because one could always use the argument you havent seen all pigs,....

[sailornaruto39]

you can prove a negative, when the positive exsists.

[KarinMikazuki]

@drrobertoboogie97

I can prove that 2+2 is infact 4

[drrobertoboogie97]

@KarinMikazuki You're saying that you can't prove 2+2 isn't 3.

[flight1100]

@CousinoMacul No No No. The fact that I can not prove a positive with out the information needed to do so does not equal proving a negative.

[13smitbr]

I am an atheist, and I see where this guy is coming from. I respect him for not taking a side and starting a huge troll war in the comment section :)