> Uh, Ken, the issue of the difficulty in proving a negative in
> logic is not
> something I came up with in a dream. It is a common idea.
> Been around for, oh,
> centuries. You can check this out by using any major search
> engine and typing in
> terms like "proving" "negative" and "fallacy" etc.
[snip]
Some time ago Louis Proyect put me on to this site: http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/
It's pretty inclusive of the logical fallacies. In particular, look at no. 19 "Burden of Proof."
As Chip says, this isn't anything dreamed up recently. I'd guess it goes back to the ancient Greeks who more or less codified logical argument.
I recommend dipping into the various examples from time to time.
-- John K. Taber