Argument from silence
![Marco Polo's travel journals are silent on the Great Wall of China, which some believe is evidence of his never having visited the country.[1]](/uploads/202412/21/GWC_Herbert_Ponting0229.jpg)
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To make an argument from silence (Latin: argumentum ex silentio) is to express a conclusion that is based on the absence of statements in historical documents, rather than on presence. In the field of classical studies, it often refers to the assertion that an author is ignorant of a subject, based on the lack of references to it in the author's available writings.