Discussion 2 to Talk Back 50
Re: You don't have to prove... And you can't

by Hugo

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Re: You don't have to prove... And you can't

Exactly. The Argument from Incredulity is a classic logical fallacy; a flawed argument. "I don't understand" is often used in a veiled form against the theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, e.g. "It seems impossible for anything complex to evolve by natural selection, therefore evolution is wrong." Inability to understand is never an argument, and often the people in question would do good to actually read some evolution textbooks and papers.

As Richard Dawkins says, to refute the argument from Incredulity, one doesn't even need to provide the correct solution. One only needs to provide a plausible solution.

It reminds me of the Ned Flanders quote: "Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling you how it ends. There are some things we don't want to know. Important things."