Sagan standard

The Sagan standard is an aphorism which asserts that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. The aphorism was made popular by astronomer Carl Sagan. Others have put forward this idea but phrased it differently. Pierre-Simon Laplace said "The weight of evidence for an extraordinary claim must be proportioned to its strangeness". In 1808 Thomas Jefferson also said "A thousand phenomena present themselves daily which we cannot explain, but where facts are suggested, bearing no analogy with the laws of nature as yet known to us, their verity needs proofs proportioned to their difficulty."[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Berkes, Anna (November 14, 2008). "Who is the liar now?". monticello.org. Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Retrieved October 29, 2016. Letter to Daniel Salmon on 15 February 1808 discusing the nature and origin of meteorites. U.S. Library of Congress image
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