You raise an interesting question. How does one go about proving that something hasn't been proven? If there are a known, small number of arguments for a proposition, then one need only to refute each of them, and his task is completed. However, if there are a sufficiently large number of arguments for a proposition such that to refute each of them or even to look at each of them in detail is so unwieldy as to be impractical, then the question becomes more difficult.
There is a second method which one might use, which is to simply prove the proposition false. But in this case that too would be impractical for an individual to accomplish.
So how does one go about doing disproving the existence of the proof? This is a question that has puzzled me for quite some time. If you could help I'd really be grateful.
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There is a second method which one might use, which is to simply prove the proposition false. But in this case that too would be impractical for an individual to accomplish.
So how does one go about doing disproving the existence of the proof? This is a question that has puzzled me for quite some time. If you could help I'd really be grateful.