https://blog.postcandide.151e.org/tags/epistemology/ Recent content in Epistemology on Post-Candide Hugo en-US @2025 Post Candide blog powered by Hugo Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.postcandide.151e.org/posts/weak-arguments-only-count-if-someone-tried/ Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.postcandide.151e.org/posts/weak-arguments-only-count-if-someone-tried/ <style> .figure-number { display: none; } </style> <figure > <label for="marginfig-1" class="margin-toggle marginnote-ind">⊕</label> <input type="checkbox" id="marginfig-1" class="margin-toggle"/> <span class="marginnote"> <span class="figure-number">Figure 1: </span>Satire on False Perspective, by William Hogarth, 1754 </span> <img src="William_Hogarth_-_Absurd_perspectives.png" alt="Image"> </figure> <p>A bad argument for a claim is evidence against the claim. That sounds like a license to dismiss anything poorly argued, and it mostly isn&rsquo;t — the inference only works when you had reason to expect a good argument and didn&rsquo;t get one. Weak arguments count against a position only to the extent that someone capable actually tried to make the strong case. Stated flatly that seems obvious; in practice the heuristic is easily used as if the &ldquo;actually tried&rdquo; part were free, and it isn&rsquo;t.</p>