If facts by themselves never prove or disprove anything, what else is involved in the proof of a statement?

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If facts by themselves never prove or disprove anything, what else what else is involved in the proof of a statement?

What is proof? This question is one that most scientists have asked themselves for centuries. I myself have come across this very question when studying the subject of evolution in biology. I asked myself ‘what more do people need to accept evolution as a truth?’ this is when the word proof came into play. I could not understand, for me, the facts about evolution were proofs, proofs that evolution is indeed the reason for human existence, as well as the existence of all the other forms of life inhabiting our planet today. But I soon learnt that this did not apply to everyone. So I began to ask myself what else was needed to make evolution, or any other statement a true statement?

I always thought that a proof was what was needed to make something true, a lot like evidence. However, I then learnt that you could have proof and yet not believe it. That was it. Belief. To prove something true you need a combination of facts and belief. So what is a proof? A proof as I have learnt, is something that aids belief. For example proofs like the bible help people all around the world to believe in a God.

A fact on the other hand is very different from a proof, a fact is something that we take to be true, but not necessarily true. For example, not too long ago, in the 16th century people knew for a fact that the earth was the centre of the universe. But most of us, today know for a fact that the earth revolves around the sun and completes a whole turn ever three hundred and sixty fife days, a year. And it was in the late 16th century that an adventurous mind dared to dwell on this topic and it was this very man, by the name of Galileo Galilei that dared to go against all common beliefs and contradict the major power of the time, the Church. Yes it was the church that had provided proof, to the people of the time, through god’ words and the bible, saying that the earth had to be the centre of the universe.

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So the statement ‘the earth is the centre of the universe’ is in fact a fact as long as someone thinks it is true. Sometimes facts are hard to question.  It is not easy to understand that something you have believed all your life is actually false. So sometimes we tend to accept facts that we are told without questioning them. For example, when in the early 20th century coloured people began to ask for equal rights as whites, it was seen as unacceptable. Until then, the whites had believed, and therefore took for a fact, that blacks were ...

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