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Nonevindentialism Analysis

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There is much debate in regards to evidentialism and nonevindentialism. One argument states that it is preposterous to believe or argue anything without proper evidence. The other side of the spectrum states that evidence is not necessarily required to believe in something.

The Philosopher W. K. Clifford believed in evidentialism. He wrote a story about a ship that was to be sent to sea with a full crew. The ship was weathered and it had been on similar trips many times with no issues. Before the voyage, the vessel’s owner typically got the ship checked out to ensure reliability. The ship owner had frequently gone through this routine but had rarely (if ever) failed the examination. The ship owner’s train of thought was why should he pay …show more content…

There are some things in life you should believe in not because of evidence, but because of faith. Evidence is a very grey term in my book. There are two main types of evidence, hard and soft. Hard evidence are factual observed things that prove a case 100% or without a doubt. Soft evidence is evidence that is based on probability. For instance, let’s say you are trying to prove a suspect used a rifle to shoot a victim. Your evidence is the suspect’s finger prints on the rifle found at the scene. The evidence here is considered “soft” evidence. The fingerprints prove that the suspect had touched the gun, but not that he actually pulled the trigger. An example of hard evidence is if the suspect declined that he even touched the rifle at the scene. Because his fingerprints were found on it, this proves he in fact did touch the rifle. Not all cases are black and white, and its not always hard evidence that’s discovered. A court can use soft evidence if no hard evidence is determined. Making a decision based on soft evidence is based upon probability. The suspect’s fingerprints were found on the rifle, the suspect was seen in the area at the time of the shooting, and the suspect was seen purchasing ammunition for the rifle earlier in the day is all soft evidence. It does however (with no hard evidence at play) make it more probable that this suspect was in truth the

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