Not really. Most claims dont matter. If some crazy in the street is making some wild claim, so what, I can ignore it. If someone claims they have a dog, then I can tentatively accept this claim without evidence, since I know that dogs exist, I know that lots of people have dogs as pets, so its not a wild claim to make, and even if they are lying, it doesnt impact me or my world. Most claims that might come up in my everyday world ( "its cold", "its 8am", "the sun is coming up") , I will already have evidence for, or will be able to easily verify. If someone claims that they are Julius Caesar, and demand that I call them Emperor, then this claim requires evidence. I know that Julius Caesar died 2000 years ago, I dont believe in re-incarnation, so they are going to have to give me some pretty good evidence in order for me to believe them. But, yes, in general, the default position is to not believe the claim without evidence. How do you ever make a choice when you can never have all of the facts? Depends what you are talking about. But you use the best available evidence. |