You cannot prove that Bigfoot does not exist

Izbo10 appears to think it is possible to prove that a given thing does not exist. For the sake of this debate, we shall use Bigfoot as an example, but you could replace Bigfoot with any other item or entity that is not logically contradictory (A circle with four sides is logically contradictory so you it is not valid, the flying spaghetti monster is not logically contradictory so it would apply). However, he is unwilling to support defend this in debate. I am opening this debate up to anyone who wishes to take it.

I shall open my argument with a simple syllogism, and we shall see where the argument goes from there.

A) To prove something, we must have knowledge of it
B) A thing that exists, exists in a place
C) There are places we do not have knowldge of
D) A thing that correlates to the concept of Bigfoot could logically exist
E) Therefore: We cannot prove that things do not exist in places we have no knowlege of
F) Therefore: We cannot prove that a thing that logically could exist, does not exist at a place we have no knowledge of
G) Therefore: A thing that correlates to the concept of Bigfoot might exist at a place we have no knowledge of
H) Therefore: We cannot prove that a thing that correlates to the concept of Bigfoot does not exist at a place we have no knowledge of

I accept your challenge.


"We cannot prove that things do not exist in places we have no knowledge of"

This statement can be reworded to mean the exact opposite. We cannot prove that something exists if we have no knowledge of it. I know that the concept here is Bigfoot but since you stated "you could replace Bigfoot with any other item or entity ", why don't we take the existence of god for example. Many people say god exists because it is impossible how the universe originated from nothing and therefore there had to be some supernatural power behind it. We do not have knowledge of where this so called "god" might be but we're assuming it is somewhere. This contradicts your statement above. Since we do not have knowledge on gods where abuts, therefore god does not exist.

"A thing that exists, exists in a place"

If something exists it exists somewhere, however if it does not exist, it means its nowhere to be found.








\Why do you think that Bigfoot is somewhere where we have no knowledge of? Almost the entire earth is discovered and owned by a government and even areas where it is not owned, they are all somewhat searched. There have never been a 100% correct sighting of Bigfoot. The sightings normally consisted of blurry pictures where it seems more like apes or other regular monkeys.

I would like to thank my opponent for accepting this challenge, and welcome him to the DDO community. It appears that he has been an observer here for some time, but this is his first venture into a debate.

My opponent's entire argument is a red herring. A red herring is when you introduce something that has nothing to do with the question at hand into the argument to either distract from the argument, or to attempt to shift the argument to the red herring.

If we can prove the existence of Bigfoot is irrelevant to the resolution. The question this resolution puts forth is if we can conclusively disprove the existence of bigfoot. I would acknowledge that it is indeed impossible to prove that something exists in a place that we have no knowledge of, just as it is impossible to prove that something does not exist in a place we have no knowledge of.

My opponent asks "Why do you think that Bigfoot is somewhere we have no knowledge of?" The simple fact is this, I don't think Bigfoot exists anywhere we have knowledge of, however it is impossible to know that he does not exist somewhere we have no knowledge of. There is much of the world that is unexplored. According to Trinton Submarines, up to 95% of the oceans are not explored [A]. One website, identifying the top 10 unexplored places in the world, comments that China has a vast amount of caves that are mostly unexplored. [B]

That is just our planet, there are 7 other planets (8 if you're oldschool like me and still count Pluto) that could contain a semblance of something called Bigfoot. In addition to that, there are trillions of starts that could have planetary systems that support life. This also does not take into account the possiblity of parallel dimensions or universes.

Simply put, there are more places that we do not have knowledge of than those that we do. It is entierly possible that Bigfoot could exist in one of those places, and we have no way to prove that he does not. Therefore: You cannot prove that Bigfoot does not exist.

Thank you.

[A] http://tritonsubs.com...
[B] http://top-10-list.org...

What you're trying to say is way to broad and general.
"That is just our planet, there are 7 other planets (8 if you're old school like me and still count Pluto) that could contain a semblance of something called Bigfoot."

Saying this is like saying, "it has got to be somewhere". Its like saying, even if it is not on earth, it must be somewhere in the universe. I understand what you are trying to say, however, firstly, you must understand what 'Bigfoot' is.

"Bigfoot" is a large, prehistoric ape-like creature. It is assumed that it is a creature originating from earth, therefore even though there might be something resembling Bigfoot in the other planets, those wouldn't be identified as Bigfoot will they?

Also scientists say that "the breeding population of such an animal would be so large that it would account for many more purported sightings than currently occur, making the existence of such an animal an almost certain impossibility."

http://en.wikipedia.org...

My opponent has now introduced a strawman into the argument. "Saying this is like saying, "it has got to be somewhere""

I am not arguing that Bigfoots exist by necessity. I personally do not believe they exist anywhere in the universe, however I acknowledge that I cannot prove this.

Even if we limit Bigfoot to Earth. There is no way to know that there is not a parallel dimension. In 1997 Oxford released what it considered to be proof parallel universes exist. [A] Since we cannot know what the contents of Earth are in such a parallel dimension, we cannot know if that earth contains Bigfoods.

[A] http://www.dailygalaxy.com...

Ill make this short.
Parallel Dimension is not proven at the moment making it nonexistent in our lives at the moment. Therefore, bigfoot cannot exist in this so called "parallel Universe".

In Conclusion, scientists have a plentiful amount of evidences and reasons why the existence of BigFoot is nearly impossible therefore making it possibly proven that Bigfoot does not exist.