Scholars measure evidence against epistemic modality to determine the validity of a claim. Evidence can be sensory or hearsay, with sensory evidence being the most reliable. Proof of source is considered the best evidence, as it comes directly from the person who experienced the statement.
Evidence, in the language, is evidence that supports the veracity of a claim. Scholars generally measure evidence by measuring the evidence to support a claim against the epistemic modality. Epistemic modality is the amount of belief the scholar has in the person or literary work providing the evidence. When measuring evidence, the scholar usually determines whether the evidence is sensory or hearsay. The scholar can then use this information to determine whether or not the claim is valid, labeling it most likely true or most likely false.
Those who gather information for evidence usually start by finding out how the object of the statement was observed. For example, a young woman might say, “My sister’s arm was bleeding.” A scholar studying this claim might wonder how the young woman knows this. If the statement was observed by hearsay, it is likely that the young woman received this information from a third party and did not observe the statement herself.
When it comes to hearsay, a scholar has two choices: label the claim as most likely false, or try to find someone who has observed the claim with their senses. Claims made on hearsay can become garbled and confusing as they are passed on from person to person, giving them a relatively low level of epistemic mode. For example, the young woman’s sister may have only had a paper cut, but the claim was exaggerated when it came to the woman herself.
In the above situation, the scholar would likely find someone with sensory evidence to back up the claim. Sensory evidence can be gathered from any of the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, or scent. Someone who has seen the sister can support the statement in question by confirming that they saw blood on the sister’s arm. This helps give the scholar more confidence in the claim, but still doesn’t prove or disprove it. For example, the alleged blood may have been spilled with ketchup or ink.
The next step in evidence is usually to find someone even closer to the situation, someone who was physically involved in the evidence. In this case, that person could be someone who helped the sister take care of her arm, or her own sister. Someone who helped the sister take care of her arm would have had visual and tactile evidence. The person would have seen the severity of the injury and likely touched the wound to clean or bandage it. The scholar can interrogate this person, determining if the wound and blood were really what they seemed.
Proof of source is generally considered the best type of evidence. Here the scholar goes directly to the source of the statement, or the sister, in this case. The sister experienced the statement, which means she knows exactly what happened. If the scholar speaks to her and finds the hearsay to be correct, the statement can most likely be labeled true.
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