Zephan: What is Evidence?

Hi Zephan,The legal and scientific definitions of evidence are unlikely to be the same. From your past posts I gather that you would like to apply a legal definition of evidence in a scientific context, which would be inappropriate, sort of like using NFL rules in a soccer game.I couldn't myself produce the legal definition of evidence, but my guess is that its waters are muddied somewhat by a legal process where judges decide what is evidence and what isn't.In science, evidence is that which is apparent in some way to the five senses. Replicability is important in science, so evidence must either be available to or reproducible by any competent practitioner in the relevant field of scientific endeavor.--Percy

Hi Zephan,In this thread Mark hasn't said any of the things you've attributed to him, he's only asked you for your definition of evidence. I've given you science's definition of evidence, and now I, too, would like to see yours.--Percy

Hi Zephan,Imaginary conversation:Me: I'm having this on-line discussion with someone about the definition of scientific evidence.Friend: Oh. What did you tell him.Me: I told him that evidence is information available to us through the five senses.Friend: Uh-huh. What does he think it is?Me: I don't know, he won't say.Friend: Then why are you wasting your time?--Percy

The reason you can't remember it is because you never knew it because it doesn't exist. But you can use the [INDENT] UBB code, like this (case isn't significant in UBB codes, but I've used upper case here): Which would end up looking like this: In case you're interested in looking under the hood, the software translates it into this HMTL: The "in" class definition is in a cascading style sheet and looks like this: Naturally you can use the

HTML tag yourself, which gives you an indent about twice as great. You can also use "style=" inside the blockquote tag and specify styles yourself, eg:

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If you wanted a tab function in order to line up text into orderly columns then you have to use the HTML tag, but use "class=ms1" or "class=ms2" for the tags or you won't like the results.

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--Percy

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[This message has been edited by Percipient, 02-27-2003]

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This message is a reply to:
	Message 23 by bambooguy, posted 02-26-2003 10:56 PM		bambooguy has not replied

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Reply    Peek

Maybe an example will help. I check the outside temperature, the date and the time, and I write them down in my weather journal. This, to me, is data, and I can use it as evidence in support of any relevant assertions I might make, such as, "March has been a colder month so far this year than last."This is pretty much the way experimental science is taught - measure it, write it down, analyze it, use it as evidence to support your hypothesis.--Percy

Zephan appears to be following a well established lawyerly tactic: when the evidence is against you, obfuscate. He began by ignoring questions, and moved on to introducing irrelevancies. He clearly knows that where juries are concerned, confusion trumps rational arugments.There are a myriad of other available obfuscative techniques that Zephan can employ, and this discussion can not and will not progress as long as engaging the discussion would be counter to his interests. For the time being, clarity does not serve Zephan's goals.In a court of law the judge is the guardian at the gate deciding which evidence and arguments are admitted and which are not. In debates here, board administration usually avoids trying to play this role, but at present much space is being devoted across many threads to unsupported and/or nonsensical arguments that don't seem worth responding to.--Percy