Changes

Evidence (view source)

Revision as of 06:54, August 25, 2008

354 bytes added , 06:54, August 25, 2008

Expand (and remove marginally-relevant paragraph)

Line 1: Line 1: −

'''Evidence''' is information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder ([[judge]] or [[jury]]) to decide the case for one side or the other.

+

'''Evidence''' is a fact or information that is used to support or prove an idea or claim.

+

In a [[court]], evidence is presented in the form of testimony or documents that are used to persuade the fact finder ([[judge]] or [[jury]]) to decide the case for one side or the other.

+

In [[science]], evidence is used to support or [[falsifiable|falsify]] a hypothesis or theory.

+

Evidence does not speak for itself, but must be interpreted.

+

For example, a judge or jury must decide whether a gun found at the scene of a crime (the evidence) supports the prosecutor's claim that the gun's owner was present, or whether the gun got there by other means.

+

Evidence must be able to distinguish between two competing claims.

+

For example, similarity of living things ([[homology]]) does not necessarily support the [[theory of evolution]] over the [[creationism|creationary viewpoint]] because the same evidence is consistent with both ideas.

−

More generally, evidence is that which tends to prove or disprove something.<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/evidence "Evidence," from dictionary.com]</ref> In [[Christianity]], evidence and [[faith]] are interrelated in the following [[Bible]] verse: ''Hebrews 11:1 (KJV): Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.''

==See also==

*[[Epistemology]]

*[[Knowledge]]

−

~~==References==~~

−

~~<references/>~~

[[Category:Legal Terms]]

[[category:Philosophy]]

Philip J. Rayment

nsTeam2RO, nsTeam2RW, nsTeam2_talkRO, nsTeam2_talkRW

13,254

edits