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Is it possible to prove a negative?
in Philosophy
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Scientific method: noun; a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.
The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don't know anything about.
Wayne Dyer
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Scientific method: noun; a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.
The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don't know anything about.
Wayne Dyer
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This is not always the case, however. Take the statement: "Aliens do not exist". How do you prove it right? You could prove it wrong if aliens exist and are found one day. But what if aliens truly do not exist? Even if you scour the Universe in the search for them - how do you know that they are not hiding in some dark corner inside a gas giant?
There are also statements that can be proven right or wrong in theory, but cannot in practice. Suppose I say: "On September 14th of year 1998, I did not drink tea". All trace of tea drank 20 years ago by now has been erased from the body, and obviously no witnesses will remember the truth by now. This negative cannot be proven.
In general, however, your claim is correct: there are negatives that can be proven. My addendum would be that there are also negatives that cannot be proven.
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Which inherently disproves the negative: "God does not exist"
Scientific method: noun; a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.
The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don't know anything about.
Wayne Dyer
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You can prove that square circles and married bachelors don’t exist because they are logically impossible.
You can also prove something doesn’t exist if there is evidence of its non existence. For example if someone claims there is an elephant in the room and you know there isn’t because you have just seen the elephant in the garden, then you can prove this by entering the room and revealing the absence of elephant.
Unfortunately things that don’t produce any evidence of non existence, only absence of evidence, cannot be proven not to exist.
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