Evidence in its broadest sense includes anything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. The meaning of the word truth extends from Honesty, Good faith, and Sincerity in general to agreement with Fact or Reality Philosophically, evidence can include propositions which are presumed to be true used in support of other propositions that are presumed to be falsifiable. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Falsifiability (or "refutability" is the logical possibility that an assertion can be shown false by an observation or a physical experiment The term has specialized meanings when used with respect to specific fields, such as policy, scientific research, criminal investigations, and legal discourse. A policy is a deliberate plan of action to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome(s Scientific method refers to bodies of Techniques for investigating phenomena Criminal procedure refers to the legal process for adjudicating claims that someone has violated Criminal law. Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society
The most immediate form of evidence available to an individual is the observations of that person's own senses. For example an observer wishing for evidence that the sky is blue need only look at the sky. However this same example illustrates some of the difficulties of evidence as well:
- someone who was blue-yellow color blind, but did not know it, would have a very different perception of what color the sky was than someone who was not. Color blindness, a Color vision deficiency is the inability to perceive differences between some of the Colors that others can distinguish Even simple sensory perceptions (qualia) ultimately are subjective; guaranteeing that the same information can be considered somehow true in an objective sense is the main challenge of establishing standards of evidence. " Qualia " (ˈkwɑːliə is "an unfamiliar term for something that could not be more familiar to each of us the ways things seem to us" Subjectivity refers to a subject's perspective particularly feelings beliefs and desires Objectivity is both an important and very difficult concept to pin down in philosophy
- there is also the question of what is meant by 'blue', and how we measure it. (If determined by a particular wave-length of colour - then how do we actually measure this?)
- there is also the question of how evidence 'translates' e. g. is 'blau' in German universally translated as 'blue' in English: Germans may have different words for different parts of the spectrum; thus 'evidence' is a social construction. A social construction or social construct is any phenomenon "invented" or "constructed" by participants in a particular Culture or Society
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Evidence in science
In scientific research evidence is accumulated through observations of phenomena that occur in the natural world, or which are created as experiments in a laboratory. Scientific evidence is Evidence which serves to either support or counter a scientific Theory or Hypothesis. In scientific inquiry an experiment ( Latin: Ex- periri, "to try out" is a method of investigating particular types of research questions or A laboratory (informally lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific Research, Experiments and Scientific evidence usually goes towards supporting or rejecting a hypothesis. Scientific evidence is Evidence which serves to either support or counter a scientific Theory or Hypothesis. A hypothesis (from Greek) consists either of a suggested explanation for a phenomenon (an event that is observable or of a reasoned proposal suggesting a possible When evidence is contradictory to predicted expectations, the evidence and the ways of making it are often closely scrutinized (see experimenter's regress) and only at the end of this process the hypothesis is rejected: this can be referred to as 'refutation of the hypothesis'. In Science, experimenter's regress refers to a loop of dependence between theory and evidence In Informal logic an objection (also called expostulation or refutation) is a reason arguing against a Premise, lemma The rules for evidence used by science are collected systematically in an attempt to avoid the bias inherent to anecdotal evidence: nonetheless even anecdotal evidence is enough to reject a theory incompatible with that evidence, if there are sufficient repeated examples. Bias is a term used to describe a Tendency or Preference towards a particular perspective, Ideology or result especially when the tendency interferes The expression anecdotal evidence has two quite distinct meanings The expression anecdotal evidence has two quite distinct meanings
Evidence in criminal investigation
In criminal investigation, rather than attempting to prove an abstract or hypothetical point, the evidence gatherers are attempting to determine who is responsible for a criminal act. In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment The focus of criminal evidence is to connect physical evidence and reports of witnesses to a specific person.
Evidence in Software
Evidence is a way of uniquely identifying a version of software.
Evidence in law
Legal evidence differs from the above in the tight rules governing the presentation of facts that tend to prove or disprove the point at issue. The Law of evidence governs the use of Testimony (eg oral or written statements such as an Affidavit) and exhibits (e The Law of evidence governs the use of Testimony (eg oral or written statements such as an Affidavit) and exhibits (e In law, certain policies require that evidence that tends to prove or disprove an assertion or fact must nevertheless be excluded from consideration based either on indicia relating to reliability, or on broader social concerns. Testimony (which tells) and exhibits (which show) are the two main categories of evidence presented at a trial or hearing.
Evidence in statistics
This is the key of statistical inference, for which see e. Inferential statistics or statistical induction comprises the use of Statistics to make Inferences concerning some unknown aspect of a Population g. the work of Allan Birnbaum and others. Allan Birnbaum ( May 27, 1923 &ndash July 1, 1976) was an American Statistician who contributed to Statistical inference
Types of evidence
External sources
- ASTM E141 Standard Practice for Acceptance of Evidence Based on the Results of Probability Sampling
External links
Intuition is apparent ability to acquire knowledge without a clear inference or the use of reason Personal experience of a Human being is the moment-to-moment Experience and Sensory awareness of internal and external events For the use of the term testimonial in sport (especially Football) see Testimonial match. The expression anecdotal evidence has two quite distinct meanings Scientific evidence is Evidence which serves to either support or counter a scientific Theory or Hypothesis. ASTM International ( ASTM) originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials is an international Standards organization that develops and publishesDictionary
evidence
-noun
- Facts or observations presented in support of an assertion.
- (legal) Anything admitted by a court to prove or disprove alleged matters of fact in a trial.
-verb
- (transitive) To provide evidence for, or suggest the truth of.
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