Hitchens' Razor is a law in epistemology (philosophical razor), which states that the burden of proof or onus in a debate lies with the claim-maker, and if he or she does not meet it, the opponent does not need to argue against the unfounded claim. It is named after journalist and writer Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011), who formulated it thus:[1][2]
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Hitchens' Razor is actually a translation of the Latin proverb "Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur", which has been widely used since at least the early 19th century[3], but Hitchens' English rendering of the phrase has made it more known and popular in the 21st century. It is used, for example, to counter presuppositional apologetics.
Richard Dawkins, a fellow antitheistic activist of the late Hitchens, formulated a slightly different version of the same law that has the same implication, at TED in February 2002:[4]
The onus is on you to say why, the onus is not on the rest of us to say why not.
Dawkins used his version to argue against agnosticism, which he described as "poor" in comparison to atheism[5], because it refuses to judge on claims that are, even though not wholly falsifiable, very unlikely to be true.
See also
References
- ^ Christopher Hitchens, "Mommie Dearest" - slate.com. October 20, 2003.
- ^ Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007). Twelve Books, New York.
- ^ e.g. The Classical Journal , Vol. 40 (1829), p. 312.
- ^ Richard Dawkins, Militant Atheism - ted.com. February, 2002.
- ^ Richard Dawkins, "The Poverty of Agnosticism" in: The God Delusion (2006). Bantam Books, London.