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====Manufacturing facts from a theory====

====Manufacturing facts from a theory====

Manufacturing facts from a theory is the assertion as fact of an undemonstrated, unobserved idea for no better reason than that a given theory requires that fact.  In law, it is called assuming facts not in evidence.  It should not be confused with formulating a prediction to test a hypothesis

Manufacturing facts from a theory is the assertion as fact of an undemonstrated, unobserved idea for no better reason than that a given theory requires that fact.  In law, it is called assuming facts not in evidence.  It should not be confused with formulating a prediction to test a hypothesis. [[Christian In Name Only|False Christians]] often engage in this fallacy by making baseless assertions as to what God wants that may have no basis in the [[Bible]] or even contradict it, but that conveniently support whatever those false Christians would have wanted to believe anyway.

In the early stages of formulating a model, this sort of behavior is acceptable. But when repeated efforts to demonstrate such a new fact have failed, the proper logical response is to discard or revise the theory, and not merely to assume that the "fact" still exists and someone hasn't tried hard enough to find it. This is especially true when someone develops evidence that the inferred "fact" could not possibly exist.

In the early stages of formulating a model, this sort of behavior is acceptable. But when repeated efforts to demonstrate such a new fact have failed, the proper logical response is to discard or revise the theory, and not merely to assume that the "fact" still exists and someone hasn't tried hard enough to find it. This is especially true when someone develops evidence that the inferred "fact" could not possibly exist.