That’s fair enough. However, judging by what I’ve read, this community’s definition of evidence seems to constitute just about anything ever written about anything. How would you then differentiate evidence, from rumor, hearsay, speculation, etc.?
Well that clarifies things quite a bit. I find this definition of evidence surprising, especially in this community, but very interesting. I’ll have to sleep on it. Thank you for the references.
Rumor, hearsay, etc. falls under our definition of evidence, just weak evidence, or probably very indirect (for example, if there is a rumor that A, it might constitute evidence against A being true, given other things you know).
That’s fair enough. However, judging by what I’ve read, this community’s definition of evidence seems to constitute just about anything ever written about anything. How would you then differentiate evidence, from rumor, hearsay, speculation, etc.?
The wiki should be a good starting point for answering this question. What is Evidence? may also be helpful.
Short version: rumor, hearsay, and speculation are evidence, albeit of a very weak variety.
Well that clarifies things quite a bit. I find this definition of evidence surprising, especially in this community, but very interesting. I’ll have to sleep on it. Thank you for the references.
Rumor, hearsay, etc. falls under our definition of evidence, just weak evidence, or probably very indirect (for example, if there is a rumor that A, it might constitute evidence against A being true, given other things you know).