О ЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ ПРИРОДЕ ONUS PROBANDI

Роман БЕЛОГОРОДОВ Молдавский государственный университет

Abstract

ON THE LOGICAL NATURE OF ONUS PROBANDI The status of the principle "who makes the claim has a burden of proof..." also known as Onus Probandi, is often declared illogical, i.e. the application of this principle as the basis of proof in disputes and discussions relies on either context, or standards and conventions, but not on logic. In non-scientific polemics, where the parties do not always desire for truth but rather seek to convince the opponent, the illogicality of Onus Probandi does not cause serious difficulties and can be overcome, e.g. by injunction, as in legal disputes. However, there are no such prescriptions in scientific and philosophical disputes. This leads to a situation of philosophical controversy when the parties shift the burden of proof on each other, remaining in their original positions and not adding anything new to them. This situation can be solved, for instance, by showing the logical nature of Onus Probandi, as it is demonstrated in this article. Keywords: burden of proof, Onus Probandi, logical principles.