plausibility

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Plausibility is an assessment criterion for statements: If a statement is assessed as plausible, it is plausible, understandable, understandable, etc.

etymology

The adjective plausible was adopted from the second half of the 17th century from the French word plausible , which is from the Latin plausibilis for "deserving applause", "calculated for applause" and "plausible", or chat for "(applause) clap "was borrowed.

Scientific specification of the term

The term "plausible" is used to assess statements and means something like "plausible", "understandable", "understandable" etc. Plausible moves between "absurd" and "obvious". An absurd assertion in the everyday sense of "completely remote from common sense", "absurd", "foolish" etc. is too little to be considered plausible (eg: "There are winged horses."). This contrast between absurd and plausible can already be found in a quote from Goethe in the German dictionary of the Brothers Grimm : "Whoever wants to cheat people must above all make the absurd plausible." On the other hand, a statement is considered to be obvious in the everyday sense of "for everyone can be seen ”,“ apparent ”,“ (colloquially) obvious ”, it is more than just plausible (example:“ The snow is white. ”). Plausibility, however, is not an objective assessment criterion, since a statement can be plausible for one person but not for another. A relational term is therefore plausible , which requires a common reference value (“understanding environment”) before which statements can only be assessed. If the reference value changes, the assessment of the same statements can change, for example in the context of the environment of understanding of different cultures or in the contrast between laypeople and experts .

An example: in 2016 spread through social networks , the news that in a pizzeria in Washington, DC a child porn ring agiere, in the former candidate of the American presidential campaign , Hillary Clinton was implicated. In the hacked e-mail account of John Podesta , the head of Clinton's election campaign at the time, messages were deciphered that indicated a connection between Podesta and the owner of the pizzeria and in which linguistically coded terms for child pornography from the internet jargon were used . On December 4, 2016, an armed man finally broke into this pizzeria in order to free the children allegedly held and abused there.

Model representation of the relationships between the term “plausible” and the central, surrounding terms.

In a very specific context of understanding, the connection between pizzeria, child pornography, WikiLeaks and Hillary Clinton is judged to be so plausible that he convinced the man that he wanted to storm the restaurant himself. Against the background of a different environment of understanding, however, the connection of the individual statements is viewed as a conspiracy theory and thus as absurd. The news was ultimately exposed as a hoax and known as Pizzagate . In the context of fake news in particular, there is often a targeted attempt to make false information plausible, “with the intention of harming a person, an organization or an institution.” However, the process of plausibility checking does not necessarily have to be associated with intentional manipulation. This is also used in expert-lay communication to make certain expert positions plausible even for laypeople. In all cases it is necessary to build on the knowledge of those who are to be convinced: In order to make a statement plausible, it must in principle be capable of a majority: “A judgment [...] becomes plausible because [...] the quality is appropriate to my judgment to win the applause of a majority ”( Lutz Koch ). Statements (or complexes of statements) that are considered plausible always represent a potentially majority alternative to the usual (obvious) view. If a view prevails as the only valid explanation, over time there is no alternative and thus becomes evident: “Evidence is increased plausibility. It is given, even if the exclusion of alternatives makes sense ”( Niklas Luhmann ).

Demarcation

Philosophy of science

In the epistemological context, plausibility is mentioned in connection with the conclusion to the best explanation , as well as the abductive conclusion in the sense of Charles Sanders Peirce , without these two logical procedures being identical with plausibility.

Plausibility check

The plausibility check is a method that is used, for example, for billing in statutory health insurance associations or in the legal field. The calculated values ​​are roughly checked to see whether they can be plausible.

Plausibility rule

The plausibility rule in describing economic computer science , a business rule in the context of computer programs. The rule states when application software data is considered plausible and should be further processed.

mathematics

Plausibility is a fundamental mathematical term in evidence theory and also the maximum likelihood method .

history

In historical studies, the concept of scientific plausibility is generally discussed as historical validity .

literature

  • Martin Böhnert, Paul Reszke: Linguistic-philosophical studies on plausibility: About communicative basic patterns in the emergence of scientific facts. In: Julia Engelschalt, Arne Maibaum (Hrsg.): In search of the facts: Proceedings of the 1st conference of the young talent network "INSIST". SSOAR 2015, pp. 40-67. urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-455901
  • Lutz Koch: An attempt on plausibility. In: Andreas Dörpinghaus , Karl Helmer (Ed.): Rhetoric argumentation validity. Würzburg 2002, pp. 193-204. ISBN 978-3-8260-2384-2 .
  • Simone Winko: On plausibility as an assessment criterion for literary interpretations. In: Andrea Albrecht et al. (Ed.): Theories, methods and practices of interpreting. Berlin / Boston 2015, pp. 483-511. ISBN 978-3-11-030764-1 .

Web links

Wiktionary: plausible  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ plausible. In: Digital dictionary of the German language . Retrieved November 2, 2019
  2. ↑ Simone Winko: On plausibility as an assessment criterion for literary interpretations . In: Andrea Albrecht et al. (Ed.): Theories, methods and practices of interpreting . Berlin / Boston 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-030764-1 , p. 489.
  3. ↑ plausible. In: Synonym dictionary , Duden Volume 8. 3. Completely newly acquired. Edition. 2004.
  4. ^ Lutz Koch: Attempt on plausibility . In: Andreas Dörpinghaus, Karl Helmer (Ed.): Rhetoric argumentation validity . Würzburg 2002, p. 199. ISBN 978-3-8260-2384-2 .
  5. ↑ absurd . In: Synonym dictionary , Duden Volume 8. 3. Completely newly acquired. Edition. 2004.
  6. ↑ plausible. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . 16 volumes in 32 sub-volumes, 1854–1960. S. Hirzel, Leipzig ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
  7. ↑ obviously . In: Synonym dictionary , Duden Volume 8. 3. Completely newly acquired. Edition. 2004.
  8. ↑ Martin Böhnert, Paul Reszke: Linguistic-philosophical investigations on plausibility: About communicative basic patterns in the emergence of scientific facts . In: Julia Engelschalt, Arne Maibaum (Hrsg.): In search of the facts: Proceedings of the 1st conference of the young talent network "INSIST" . Berlin 2015, p. 49, urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-455901 .
  9. ↑ "Nina Rehfeld: Defamation" Pizzagate "- In America lies the rule . FAZ.NET , December 9, 2016; accessed on June 25, 2018.
  10. ↑ Dissecting the #PizzaGate Conspiracy Theories . The New York Times , December 10, 2016, accessed June 25, 2018.
  11. ↑ Gunman storms pizzeria to "investigate" conspiracy theory . Stern , December 5, 2016, accessed June 25, 2018.
  12. ↑ Martin Böhnert, Paul Reszke: Linguistic-philosophical investigations on plausibility: About communicative basic patterns in the emergence of scientific facts . In: Julia Engelschalt, Arne Maibaum (Ed.): In search of the facts: Proceedings of the 1st conference of the young talent network “INSIST” , Berlin 2015, p. 52, urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-455901 .
  13. ↑ Alexander Sängerlaub: Germany before the federal election: Fake news everywhere? August 23, 2017 ( stiftung-nv.de [accessed November 9, 2017]).
  14. ^ Lutz Koch: Attempt on plausibility . In: Andreas Dörpinghaus, Karl Helmer (Ed.): Rhetoric argumentation validity . Würzburg 2002, ISBN 978-3-8260-2384-2 , p. 201.
  15. ^ Niklas Luhmann: Society structure and semantics. Studies on the sociology of knowledge in modern society . Volume 1. Frankfurt am Main, 1980, p. 49.
  16. ↑ Holger Klärner: The conclusion to the best explanation . de Gruyter, Berlin 2003, ISBN 978-3-11-017721-3 , pp. 7-10.
  17. ↑ Simone Winko: On plausibility as an assessment criterion for literary interpretations . In: Andrea Albrecht et al. (Ed.): Theories, methods and practices of interpreting . Berlin / Boston 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-030764-1 , pp. 488-489.
  18. ↑ Martin Böhnert, Paul Reszke: Linguistic-philosophical investigations on plausibility: About communicative basic patterns in the emergence of scientific facts . In: Julia Engelschalt, Arne Maibaum (Hrsg.): In search of the facts: Proceedings of the 1st conference of the young talent network "INSIST" . Berlin 2015, pp. 56–58, urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-455901 .