William G. Pullin

Greetings. Hitchens' Razor. Hitchens' razor is an epistemological razor that serves as a general rule for rejecting certain knowledge claims. The razor states: "What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence." The razor is credited to author, critic, and journalist Christopher Eric Hitchens. It declares that the burden of proof regarding a claim lies squarely with the individual making the claim. If this burden is not satisfied, then the claim is deemed to be unfounded, and its opponents need not argue further in order to dismiss it. Hitchens used the phrase specifically in the context of refuting religious belief. The razor appears in Hitchens' magnificent 2007 book "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything."  The term "Hitchens' Razor" itself made its first appearance in an online forum in October of 2007, and was later popularised by evolutionary biologist and atheist activist Jerry Coyne after Hitc...

Greetings. Witness testimonials. Accurate?  Not always.  Eyewitness testimony, anecdotal information, is historically among the most convincing forms of evidence in criminal procedures. In a majority of situations, only a suspect’s signed confession can further convince a jury about that specific individual’s guilt. The moment when a testifying witness points directly to the defendant as the perpetrator of the alleged crime is iconic, and has been dramatized hundreds of times on television and in motion pictures. We tend to trust our own perceptions and experiences. “I’ll believe it when I see it” isn’t just a historical cliché, it is a statement of the most persuasive form of evidence we allow. Such is the human condition.  Eyewitness testimony is more fallible than many people figure. The arrival of DNA analysis in the late 1980s revolutionized forensic science, providing an unprecedented level of accuracy about the identity of actual perpetrators versus innocent people...

Greetings. Why do people believe misinformation? Misinformation has been identified as a major contributor to various contentious contemporary events and topics of interest ranging from extrasensory perception, to political elections, to the belief in Bigfoot and Yeti, to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only can widespread belief in misinformation lead to poor judgements and decision-making, it also exerts a lingering influence on people’s reasoning after it has been corrected, an effect known as the continued influence effect. In other words, the almost complete abandonment of any and all critical thinking skills. People are more likely to believe misinformation if it originates from in-group sources rather than from out-group ones, or if they subjectively judge the source as credible and reliable. Such a judgment is based solely on opinion and not on objective facts, with such judgments being far too commonplace in today's society. People are also more likely to believ...