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> Nothing in the article (and I could have missed it) proved evidence, from digs, against the idea of infanticide by the Spartans. Isn't the onus on the ones c

> Nothing in the article (and I could have missed it) proved evidence, from digs, against the idea of infanticide by the Spartans. Isn't the onus on the ones claiming that Spartans practiced systemic infanticide to provide the evidence that they did so?

CoastalCoder 5y ago
I'm not sure the concept of "onus" really applies here. Each reader can decide for himself how much evidence he needs to be persuaded.
- Ansil849 5y ago
  The "concept of 'onus'" applies to the writer or whoever is making a claim, not to the reader.
  - everybodyknows 5y ago
    The preceding post did not claim otherwise.
watwut 5y ago
Either way, Sparta is not Athens. They were different political and cultural systems.
xwolfi 5y ago
Where did the claim come from originally ? Could google but...
Brakenshire 5y ago
We don’t really know anything about Sparta which wasn’t written by outside observers.
gpm 5y ago
The onus is on the people making claims in general. In this case someone (the journalist?) made a claim that "spartans didn't kill `weak' babies", so the onus is on them.
- arkades 5y ago
  No, if the evidence for the area points to X, the folks claiming a deviation from the general evidenced trend need to provide evidence for that.
  - pyuser583 5y ago
    This paper isn’t making an argument. It’s summarizing specialized research. A specialist in the area could just say “appeal to authority” and they’d be right. The actual peer reviewed articles and books would require evidence. But those articles and books wouldn’t be accessible to the average reader. So the journalist is summarizing those arguments, but in the process reducing them to an appeal to authority - which is completely fine.
pyuser583 5y ago
There’s already evidence for it. There are contemporary accounts describing the practice. These accounts aren’t perfect. Not necessarily first hand eye witnesses, but not rumor mongers either. So anyone arguing that this didn’t happen needs to address an established consensus. Lots of more recent research is attacking traditional ideas about the Spartans, so this is a welcome argument. But saying “it’s on them to prove their point” isn’t really helpful.

CoastalCoder 5y ago

I'm not sure the concept of "onus" really applies here. Each reader can decide for himself how much evidence he needs to be persuaded.

Ansil849 5y ago
The "concept of 'onus'" applies to the writer or whoever is making a claim, not to the reader.
- everybodyknows 5y ago
  The preceding post did not claim otherwise.

watwut 5y ago

Either way, Sparta is not Athens. They were different political and cultural systems.

xwolfi 5y ago

Where did the claim come from originally ? Could google but...

Brakenshire 5y ago

We don’t really know anything about Sparta which wasn’t written by outside observers.

gpm 5y ago

The onus is on the people making claims in general. In this case someone (the journalist?) made a claim that "spartans didn't kill `weak' babies", so the onus is on them.

arkades 5y ago
No, if the evidence for the area points to X, the folks claiming a deviation from the general evidenced trend need to provide evidence for that.
- pyuser583 5y ago
  This paper isn’t making an argument. It’s summarizing specialized research. A specialist in the area could just say “appeal to authority” and they’d be right. The actual peer reviewed articles and books would require evidence. But those articles and books wouldn’t be accessible to the average reader. So the journalist is summarizing those arguments, but in the process reducing them to an appeal to authority - which is completely fine.

pyuser583 5y ago

There’s already evidence for it. There are contemporary accounts describing the practice. These accounts aren’t perfect. Not necessarily first hand eye witnesses, but not rumor mongers either. So anyone arguing that this didn’t happen needs to address an established consensus. Lots of more recent research is attacking traditional ideas about the Spartans, so this is a welcome argument. But saying “it’s on them to prove their point” isn’t really helpful.