Quote:Argument from silence (argumentum ex silentio) – where the conclusion is based on the absence of evidence, rather than the existence of evidence.
Frequently mis-applied by religitards and also incomplete as stated above. The more precise definition should be absence of evidence where such evidence should be expected. For instance, there is no evidence that Martians did or did not invade the Ohio Valley in the 17th century. Since there should be evidence of such an event and there is none we must conclude for now that any such claim is bogus.
This needs to be distinguished from the more classic religitard claim such as when archaeologists dig down to 10th century BC levels in Jerusalem and find a shitty little one-horse village instead of the great and glorious imperial capital that the bible claims should be there. This is not "absence of evidence." It is the absence of evidence which will support their claims and those are two completely different things.
