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MIXORA CONCEPT

Burden of proof

The responsibility to provide adequate support for a claim within a discussion or decision context.

thoughtStrong evidence
IN PLAIN LANGUAGE

A burden depends on what is asserted, the consequences of error and the agreed standard. Rejecting an unsupported claim does not require proving its opposite, although anyone making a counterclaim acquires a burden of their own.

What “Strong evidence” means

The core definition or effect is well established across authoritative standards, foundational research or a broad research literature. The label does not make every practical prediction certain.

Marker-board illustration created specifically to explain Burden of proof: The responsibility to provide adequate support for a claim within a discussion or decision context.VISUAL EXPLANATION · MARKER BOARD
The responsibility to provide adequate support for a claim within a discussion or decision context.
EXAMPLE

Someone claiming that one pigment is toxic must provide evidence; asking for that evidence does not assert that the pigment is safe.

COMMON CONFUSION

Burden of proof is not automatically assigned to whichever side is less popular or speaks second.

ASK YOURSELF

Who asserted what, and what level of evidence is appropriate to the stakes?

RELATED CONCEPTS
thoughtArgument

A set of claims in which one or more premises are offered in support of a conclusion.

thought × bridgeEvidence

Information that raises, lowers or otherwise constrains rational confidence in a claim.

thoughtPremise

A statement offered as a reason for accepting a conclusion.

thoughtPhilosophical skepticism

A family of positions or arguments that question whether knowledge or justification is possible in some domain.

References

Last reviewed

  1. 01
    Informal Logic

    Leo Groarke · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Evaluation of real-world arguments, premise acceptability and inference quality.
    Reference source
What the source labels mean
Primary source
Original work, experiment, standard or historical text.
Academic source
Scholarly research or review published for an academic audience.
Reference source
An expert standard, encyclopedia or institutional explanation that summarizes a field.
General reference
A practical specialist resource useful for application, but not treated as decisive research by itself.