Argument from Silence

Type

Informal

AKA

Argumentum ex Silentio (argument from silence)

Description

Assuming something is true (or false) because no one has stated the opposite.

Examples

"He didn’t deny the accusation, so he must be guilty."
"There’s no mention of aliens in this report, so they must not exist."

Linked from

Holocaust Denial

Basis: Denial literature (Arthur Butz, David Irving, the Institute for Historical Review); misinterpretation or selective quotation of documents; the Argument from Silence that no single written order from Hitler survives.

Argument from Martyrdom

We do not know how the apostles died. The New Testament records one apostolic martyrdom, James son of Zebedee (Acts 12:2), and it says nothing about what he was asked to recant. The deaths of Peter and Paul are reported only in later and p…

Data and Evidence

In Sagan's words, the expression is a critique of the "impatience with ambiguity" exhibited by appeals to ignorance. Despite what the expression may seem to imply, a lack of evidence can be informative: where evidence would be expected if…