Editing Argument from ignorance (section)

== Examples ==

* "I take the view that this lack (of enemy subversive activity in the west coast) is the most ominous sign in our whole situation. It convinces me more than perhaps any other factor that the sabotage we are to get, the [[Fifth Column]] activities are to get, are timed just like Pearl Harbor&nbsp;... I believe we are just being lulled into a false sense of security." – [[Earl Warren]], then California's Attorney General (before a congressional hearing in San Francisco on 21 February 1942).
* This example clearly states what appeal to ignorance is: "Although we have proven that the moon is not made of spare ribs, we have not proven that its core cannot be filled with them; therefore, the moon's core is filled with spare ribs."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bennett|first=Bo|authorlink=Bo Bennett|url=https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Argument-from-Ignorance|title=Argument from Ignorance|website=www.LogicallyFallacious.com|access-date=2016-11-23}}</ref>
* [[Donald Rumsfeld]], then [[United States Secretary of Defense| US Secretary of Defense]], argued against the argument from ignorance when discussing the [[Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq#Weapons of mass destruction|lack of evidence for WMDs in Iraq]] prior to the invasion:
{{quote|"Simply because you do not have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist."<ref name="rumsfeld quote">{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Deborah |last2=Key |first2=Brian |title=You look but do not find: why the absence of evidence can be a useful thing |url=https://theconversation.com/you-look-but-do-not-find-why-the-absence-of-evidence-can-be-a-useful-thing-114988 |website=The Conversation |access-date=20 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615144706/https://theconversation.com/you-look-but-do-not-find-why-the-absence-of-evidence-can-be-a-useful-thing-114988 |archive-date=15 June 2021 |date=22 April 2019}}</ref>{{efn|name=fn1}}}}
* The [[aphorism]] "[[wikt:no news is good news|No news is good news]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/2/23/2078220/-Logical-Fallacies-Bootcamp-Appeal-to-Ignorance|title=Logical Fallacies Bootcamp: Appeal to Ignorance|author=[[Daily Kos]]}}</ref> The usefulness of this as a [[heuristic]] may vary by context.
* [[Carl Sagan]] explains in his book ''[[The Demon-Haunted World]]'':
{{quote|'''Appeal to ignorance''': the claim that whatever has not been proved false must be true, and vice versa. (e.g., ''There is no compelling evidence that UFOs are not visiting the Earth; therefore, UFOs exist, and there is intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe.'' Or: ''There may be seventy kazillion other worlds, but not one is known to have the moral advancement of the Earth, so we're still central to the Universe.'') This impatience with ambiguity can be criticized in the phrase: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sagan|first=Carl|author-link=Carl Sagan|title=The Demon-Haunted World|chapter=Chapter 12: The Fine Art of Baloney Detection|title-link=The Demon-Haunted World}}</ref>}}

=== Job call example ===

<blockquote>They never called me back. I guess I didn't get the job.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Appeal to Ignorance |url=https://www.txst.edu/philosophy/resources/fallacy-definitions/appeal-to-ignorance.html |website=Department of Philosophy - Texas State University}}</ref></blockquote>

This would follow the second form of the argument:

<blockquote><math>P</math> (I got the job) has not been proven true (via lack of callback).<br>Therefore, <math>\neg P</math> (I didn't get the job) is true.</blockquote>

While both parts may be true (in this case, you actually didn't get the job), the reasoning is fallacious because there are cases, even if unlikely, where you could get the job, but don't receive a callback. For example, administrative delays, technical issues, or some kind of oversight from the hiring team.