Arguing from Innocence

The formal name for this fallacy is argumentum ad ignorantiam (Latin: "argument from ignorance"). John Locke was the first philosopher to explicitly name it, distinguishing it in his 1689 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. The fallacy's logic — that absence of disproof constitutes proof — traces to ancient philosophical debate; Aristotle discussed related reasoning in Sophistical Refutations. In criminal law, a legitimate version appears in reverse: the presumption of innocence treats absence of proof of guilt as grounds for innocence.