TOPIC 5

“That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.”
(Christopher Hitchens). Do you agree?

December 7, 2012

Name: Irma Imamović (001258-019)

School: Druga gimnazija Sarajevo IB Diploma Program

Words: 1593
Irma Imamović (001258-019) May 2013 TOK Essay

Christopher Hitchens once said, „That which can be asserted without evidence can

be dismissed without evidence.” Many people should believe in evidences, or their beliefs

should be based on evidences. In despite of that, there are some areas of knowledge do not use

evidences to support their claims of beliefs. Those are areas that are primarily based on

subjective opinions and require little or no use of facts that have to be supported by evidences,

such as arts, ethics and religion. Opposed to that there are areas of knowledge that are based

on the evidences exclusively. Those are usually sciences, like biology, chemistry, physics or

mathematics. Of course, evidences have different meanings in these different areas of

knowledge. I believe that this statement is true, and I will try to prove that through the

following essay. Anyhow, one is for sure; evidences are a requirement for all areas of

knowledge and a base for any proof and reliable information.

Mathematics is one of the areas of knowledge where clear use of evidences is shown.

Actually, the goal of mathematics is to prove or give evidences to its theorems. There is a

certain term called mathematical proof, which is a way to show that a theorem is true using

axioms and already proved theorems. There are several types of mathematical proof; direct

proof, mathematical induction, contradiction, construction, etc. “The proof is everything, and

this is the defining characteristics of mathematics”.1 Example of theorem and its proof is

Kawasaki theorem, which is mathematical theorem of paper folding. Kawasaki’s theorem

states: the fold pattern may be folded flat if and only if the alternating sum and difference of

the angles adds to zero α1 − α2 + α3 − ⋯ + α2n − 1 − α2n = 0, from this emanates that the sum of

all angles have to be equal to 180 degrees, α1 + α3 + ⋯ + α2n – 1 = α2 + α4 + ⋯ α2n = 180°.

Proof: Consider the smallest angle αi and the two folds on either side of it. If one of these two

folds is mountain-folded and the other valley-folded, and the resulting paper flap is glued

down onto the remaining part of the fold pattern, the result will be a fold pattern with two

1
Alchin, Nicholas. Theory of Knowledge. 2nd ed. London: Hodder Education, 2006.

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Irma Imamović (001258-019) May 2013 TOK Essay

fewer folds, on a conical sheet of paper.2 This is only one of the many examples of theorems

and its proofs found in mathematics. However, not all claims in mathematics are completely

proved. Example is imaginary number, many said that imaginary numbers exist, but do we

really have a proof of that. Another example is somewhat more common which is how many

numbers actually exist. It is declared that there are infinity amount of numbers, although there

is no single evidence to prove that.

In the example of mathematics almost all of the facts are supported by evidences, on

the other hand there is an example of the other area of knowledge, history, where the

evidences have a different role and are used in the other purposes. There are two main

divisions of evidences in history, primary and secondary. Primary are the ones that are

created at the time which is investigated; while secondary are the ones that are created after

the time which is investigated. These evidences comes in many forms, as printed materials (a

book, newspaper, a law, etc.), as a physical evidence (images), oral evidence (usually

interview, or a recording). Historians use the evidences to make a certain judgments or

conclusions. One of the problems with historical evidences is their reliability. Nevertheless, if

the evidence supports another, then that piece of evidence can be called reliable. Despite of

that, there are many facts that are not accurate, simply false. It is very hard to write the history

if you have not lived it and even harder if you did. For example, for a twenty-first century

historians it is very hard to write history of an eighteen century, since they had not lived in

that time, and his work will be based only on the other sources. On the other hand, there is a

problem when historians are writing the history they had lived, which is problem of being

bias. For example, if the source is based on Vietnam War and it is written by a person who

supported Ho Chi Minh, it is possible that it will be written in favor of him. This means that

source is actually author’s subjective opinion, and could be hardly used as reliable evidence.

2
"Kawasaki's Theorem." Wikipedia. 30 Oct 2012; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki%27s_theorem

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In any case, I think that the reliability of the historical source generally depends on the

paradigm.

In order to make a certain conclusion it is very important to observe all the evidences.

Yet, many people make conclusions too quickly without realizing all aspects. I will start with

myself. There are a number of times when I came to certain conclusion, about someone or

something, without taking a look at all evidences. For example, I usually have a problem of

“judging a book by its cover”, meaning that I usually make fast conclusions about someone

based on their look. That opinion is usually based on some stereotypes. I realize how wrong

that is, because no assertions should be done without evidence. This example proves the

quote, if I make a certain judgments without evidences they can be easily dismissed without

evidences too.

Information concerning evidence is obtained through different ways of knowing,

including reason, language and emotions. Although, these ways of knowing in majority of the

cases help us to think critically, they sometimes have some constrains. In the case of finding

evidences and reason is playing the main role. Reason forces us to use logic to conclude

things, which is in many cases a very reliable way to make a conclusion. Still, many people

conclude things without even looking at the evidences, but according to some common

knowledge of even stereotypes. For example, if I say, a person robbed the bank; the first

thought of many people will be that the person was a man. However, nowhere in this sentence

is actually said that the person was a man, so we cannot make that conclusion. That is one of

the main problem using reason and logic to conclude things. The other way of knowing

through which information on evidences can be acquired is language. Language plays an

important role when giving the evidences and explaining them. The only way we can proof

something is with the use of language. Therefore, if there is no language there would be no

evidences. On the other hand, there are certain limitations of language, as well. Language, as

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a way of attaining information about the evidence, can considerably rely on paradigm.

Meaning, everything depends on how one define evidence and interpret it. What for one is an

evidence for the other can be something completely different. One more way of knowing,

which is more a hinder than a help when dealing with evidences, are emotions. This is much

related to what I explained about history. It can make people biased. It is wrong if people rely

too much on emotions when collecting some evidences, or making them. Than usually those

are barely trustworthy evidences, for the reason that those evidences are a product of

someone’s subjective opinion. However, there could be used other way of knowing to

accurate the information. Reason could be used in purposes of perceiving information in

objective opinion and thus making them as reliable as possible.

As I am exploring this topic further and further I have become more aware of

importance of the evidences. I have started working on this topic with the opinion supposing

that beliefs of many people are based on evidences. As I am starting to think more “out of the

box” I see that not always is like that. I already explained my personal experience. I thought

that I am not a person who has any stereotypes or prejudices, but I guess I proved differently.

One of the especially popular examples related to this topic is conspiracy theories. One

of the famous conspiracy theories is the death of Princess Diana. Everyone knows that

Princess was killed in a car accident, together with her lover Dodi al-Fayed, while she was

trying to run away from paparazzi. Since that affair was scandalous form the start and her

death was shocking itself, many people started speculating about many different conspiracy

theories, which are still unresolved. One of the theories is that MI6 (British secret service) did

it on the order of the Queen, since the relationship between Fayed and Princess Diana was a

threat to monarchy. Even so, official inquiry found no evidences that MI6 or any other entity

murdered the princess. Still, speculating continues.

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Irma Imamović (001258-019) May 2013 TOK Essay

The question, that was supposed to be answered through the essay, was if we agree to

the quote: “That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.”

When I started the essay I agreed to this quote, now as I am finishing the essay I agree even

more. However, throughout the essay I found out that there are a lot of statements that are not

proved with evidences, and still they are not dismissed. That can be seen on the example of

mathematics; there is no proof that there is infinite amount of numbers, but we still believe in

it. Anyhow, I believe that the role of evidences is very important because only evidences can

lead us to finding the truth, although sometimes that is just not the case.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alchin, Nicholas. Theory of Knowledge. 2nd ed. London: Hodder Education, 2006.

Barile, Margherita. "Kawasaki's Theorem." Wolfram MathWorld. 30 Oct 2012;

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/KawasakisTheorem.html

Crosby, Alan, Dr. "History - First Steps in Local History." BBC News. BBC. 2 Mar 2005. 30 Oct
2012;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/local_history/getting_started/first_steps_local_history_04.shtml

Hunt, H. E. "The 30 Greatest Conspiracy Theories - Part 1." The Telegraph. 19 Nov. 2008. 31 Nov
2012; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3483477/The-30-greatest-
conspiracy-theories-part-1.html

"Mathematical Proof." Simple English Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 30 Oct 2012;
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_proof

"Spooks or Spooked? 10 Frightening Conspiracy Theories." WebUrbanist. 31 Oct 2012;

http://weburbanist.com/2009/08/18/10-frightening-conspiracy-theories/

Trueman, Chris. "Evidence." History Learning Site. 30 Oct 2012;

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/evidence.htm