What does the phrase “you can’t prove a negative” actually mean?
In: 1149
Evidence and proof work in the positive sense. That is, it may be used to show something that *does* exists or something *did* occur. We can only prove negatives through confirmation of something that exists or something occurred that would be mutually exclusive.
For example, there is no way I can prove I wasn’t in the room when the murder occurred. But If I can provide CCTV footage I was elsewhere at the time the murder took place then it follows I could not have been in the room at the same time.
So while the phrase *we can’t prove a negative* is false, it means we can only do so by comparing them to positive statements that exclude the other possibilities. In examples where the negative is not exclusive it would be impossible to prove.
For example, the claim that dragons exist cannot be countered by any evidence they do not exist because (unless we get into the details about specific attributes of dragons) there is not a mutually exclusive position we can demonstrate. This would be an example of being *unable to prove the negative*.
Latest Answers