Why ask for proof and evidence?

[heretic]

they strengthen your faith

[Quintessence]

Originally Posted by Biblestudent_007

What's the story with people asking for proof and evidence?

What I find more curious is why people ask for these things and then constrain the criteria of what constitutes proof or evidence to something so narrow that they will never receive it. Why even ask the question if you rig the deck to make answering it impossible?

[Biblestudent_007]

To me its like asking "why is the sky blue or the grass green' 'Why are there trees and vegetation' 'Why are there oceans' and 'nature'. etc . . .

[Jayhawker Soule]

Originally Posted by Quintessence

What I find more curious is why people ask for these things and then constrain the criteria of what constitutes proof or evidence to something so narrow that they will never receive it.

You place no constraints upon what constitutes 'proof' or 'evidence'? How does that work for you?

['mud]

What is the difference between "proof" AND "evidence" ?
You didn't say: "OR", you said "AND".
So with that thought in mind, "evidential proof" of an entity would be something that could be seen, smelled, felt, or sensed in some way. Or would have to be nearly three dimensional, at least a scent, maybe a sweet aroma, a presense of some sort.
In that way, "evidence" would be a clue or an indication that something "proved" that an entity is or was present at one or another point to "prove" that the entity probably did exist.
Problem is: I didn't see it, smell it, feel it, or sense it in any way.
~
Maybe you should re-ask your question, I don't think I got the gest of it !
~
Maybe I'm just confused again...
`mud

[Jayhawker Soule]

Originally Posted by 'mud

What is the difference between "proof" AND "evidence" ?:

One makes evident, the other is best consigned to the the domains of math, law, and liquor.

['mud]

hey Jay,
say without saying "other / or"
try it with "same / and"
and I'll add the smiley........and the booze !
~
`mud

[Jayhawker Soule]

Play whatever word games you wish ...

... with someone else.

[YmirGF]

Originally Posted by Biblestudent_007

What's the story with people asking for proof and evidence?

While proof and evidence are two different things, In theory, suppositions given with even slight evidence are a bit more convincing than naked speculations. Even then though, it depends who is making the suggestion. If Stephen Hawking came out with some speculation in line with his area of expertise, I would give that naked speculation more merit than I would if the identical idea was made by a poster on RF. If Stephen Hawking came out with something highly speculative that was not within his area of expertise, I would tend to think about it, given the authority of the person making the statement, but not automatically assume it was the last word on the matter.

Proof, on the other hand, is very difficult to dismiss.

[Photonic]

Originally Posted by Quintessence

What I find more curious is why people ask for these things and then constrain the criteria of what constitutes proof or evidence to something so narrow that they will never receive it. Why even ask the question if you rig the deck to make answering it impossible?

My evidence that the monkey is in the closet is that the closet exists, therefore so does the monkey.