Why Not All Evidence Is Scientific Evidence

Abstract

Data which constitute satisfactory evidence in other contexts are sometimes not treated as valid evidence in the context of scientific confirmation. I give a justificatory explanation of this fact, appealing to the incentives, biases, and social situatedness of scientists.

All that glitters...

“…On a charitable interpretation, their conflation may be due to a belief that the native speaker's status as "expert" wielder of their language automatically also implies their expertise in formal linguistic analysis of the language, somewhat analogous to a belief that if you happen to inhabit and operate a human body, you will also automatically possess complete medical knowledge. This is a fallacy similar to the one discussed by Santana (2018) with regard to what should and should not count as scientific evidence.…”