Identify the fallacy committed in the following argument: "There must be…

Concept

An informal fallacy is an error in reasoning identified by how premises are used, not merely by the argument’s formal structure. To classify one, isolate the conclusion, identify what is offered as evidence, and check which side carries the burden of proof.

Application

1. The conclusion is that intelligent life exists on other planets.

2. The only support offered is that nobody has proved the conclusion false.

3. Lack of disproof does not establish a claim. The person asserting existence still bears the burden of supplying positive evidence.

Contrast

• False alternative would restrict the issue to an unjustifiably small set of supposedly exhaustive choices; this argument does not set up such a choice set.

• Slippery slope would predict an unsupported chain of consequences from an initial step; no consequence chain appears here.

• Hasty generalization would infer a broad rule from an inadequate sample; this argument supplies no sample-based inference.

Cross-check

• Replace the claim with any assertion, such as “the hidden object is red because nobody has proved it is not red.” The reasoning remains defective because absence of contrary proof is being used as positive support.

• The NTA final answer key for UGC NET June 2023, 13 June Shift I, maps General Paper question ID 908014 to the first offered answer, “Appeal to ignorance,” independently confirming the classification.

Result

The argument therefore commits the appeal to ignorance fallacy.