Identify the flaw in the argument: “You have never proven that the earth is round. Accordingly, the earth is flat.”
Answer
This is an absence of evidence flaw. It is never okay to use someone else’s failure to prove a conclusion to support the opposite conclusion. Just because one person has not personally proven that the earth is round, that does not make it flat. Moreover, even if NO ONE had proven that the earth is round, that still would not make it flat. The point is, you can never treat someone’s failure to prove a conclusion as though it supports the opposite conclusion.