In German, both “proof“ and “evidence“ translate to “Beweis“ which only has one single meaning – if something is “bewiesen“ then it is true and a fact. In English, I see the word “evidence“ used a lot for stuff that is obviously neither true nor fact. I’ve looked it up and don’t really see a difference between the meanings of “proof“ and “evidence“ – can anyone please ELI5?
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Is German your first language?
“Proof” cannot be denied, while “evidence” can be argued with. Evidence is anything that someone presents in order to further an argument. If someone tells you that you’re not cool because you listen to Coldplay, their evidence for you not being cool is the fact that you listen to Coldplay. If you actually don’t even listen to Coldplay, this is still their evidence. That’s all evidence means in an argumentative context.
Sometimes people just say “evidence” when they mean “good evidence.” If you present unconvincing evidence, people will say that you have “weak evidence,” and if you present incredibly unconvincing evidence they will say that you have “no evidence.”
“Evidence” fundamentally means “the clear sign of something.” It’s anything that indicates something else, or that somebody claims indicates something else.
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