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rule from a number of individual cases, which is inadmissible in deductive logic.[2] However, if one nds one
single swan that is not white, deductive logic admits the
conclusion that the statement that all swans are white is
false. Falsicationism thus strives for questioning, for falsication, of hypotheses instead of proving them.
For a statement to be questioned using observation, it
needs to be at least theoretically possible that it can come
in conict with observation. A key observation of falsiciationism is thus that a criterion of demarcation is
needed to distinguish those statements that can come in
conict with observation and those that cannot (Chorlton,
2012). Popper chose falsiability as the name of this criterion.
My proposal is based upon an asymmetry
between veriability and falsiability; an
asymmetry which results from the logical form
of universal statements. For these are never
derivable from singular statements, but can be
contradicted by singular statements.
Karl Popper, The Logic of Scientic Discovery, p. 19.
Popper stressed that unfalsiable statements are important in science.[3] Contrary to intuition, unfalsiable statements can be embedded in and deductively entailed by
falsiable theories. For example, while all men are
mortal is unfalsiable, it is a logical consequence of the
falsiable theory that every man dies before he reaches
the age of 150 years.[4] Similarly, the ancient metaphysical and unfalsiable idea of the existence of atoms has
led to corresponding falsiable modern theories. Popper
invented the notion of metaphysical research programs to
name such unfalsiable ideas.[5] In contrast to Positivism,
which held that statements are meaningless if they cannot
be veried or falsied, Popper claimed that falsiability is
merely a special case of the more general notion of criticizability, even though he admitted that empirical refutation is one of the most eective methods by which theories can be criticized. Criticizability, in contrast to falsiability, and thus rationality, may be comprehensive (i.e.,
have no logical limits), though this claim is controversial
even among proponents of Poppers philosophy and critical rationalism.
Overview
2 Naive falsication
1
2.1
2 NAIVE FALSIFICATION
observa-
2.2
Falsicationism
Nave falsicationism is an unsuccessful attempt to prescribe a rationally unavoidable method for science. Sophisticated methodological falsication, on the other
hand, is a prescription of a way in which scientists ought
to behave as a matter of choice. The object of this is to
arrive at an incremental process whereby theories become
less bad.
Popper claimed that, if a theory is falsiable, then it is
Nave falsication considers scientic statements individ- scientic.
ually. Scientic theories are formed from groups of these The Popperian criterion excludes from the domain of scisorts of statements, and it is these groups that must be ac- ence not unfalsiable statements but only whole theories
cepted or rejected by scientists. Scientic theories can that contain no falsiable statements; thus it leaves us
always be defended by the addition of ad hoc hypothe- with the Duhemian problem of what constitutes a 'whole
ses. As Popper put it, a decision is required on the part of theory' as well as the problem of what makes a statethe scientist to accept or reject the statements that go to ment 'meaningful'. Poppers own falsicationism, thus,
make up a theory or that might falsify it. At some point, is not only an alternative to vericationism, it is also an
the weight of the ad hoc hypotheses and disregarded fal- acknowledgement of the conceptual distinction that presifying observations will become so great that it becomes vious theories had ignored.
unreasonable to support the base theory any longer, and
a decision will be made to reject it.
In place of nave falsication, Popper envisioned science
as progressing by the successive rejection of falsied theories, rather than falsied statements. Falsied theories
are to be replaced by theories that can account for the
phenomena that falsied the prior theory, that is, with
greater explanatory power. For example, Aristotelian
mechanics explained observations of everyday situations,
but were falsied by Galileo's experiments,[7] and were
replaced by Newtonian mechanics, which accounted for
the phenomena noted by Galileo (and others). Newtonian
mechanics' reach included the observed motion of the
planets and the mechanics of gases. The Youngian wave
theory of light (i.e., waves carried by the luminiferous
aether) replaced Newtons (and many of the Classical
Greeks) particles of light but in turn was falsied by
the Michelson-Morley experiment and was superseded
by Maxwell's electrodynamics and Einsteins special relativity, which did account for the newly observed phenomena. Furthermore, Newtonian mechanics applied to
the atomic scale was replaced with quantum mechanics, when the old theory could not provide an answer to
the ultraviolet catastrophe, the Gibbs paradox, or how
electron orbits could exist without the particles radiating
away their energy and spiraling towards the centre. Thus
the new theory had to posit the existence of unintuitive
concepts such as energy levels, quanta and Heisenbergs
uncertainty principle.
At each stage, experimental observation made a theory
untenable (i.e., falsied it) and a new theory was found
that had greater explanatory power (i.e., could account for
the previously unexplained phenomena), and as a result,
provided greater opportunity for its own falsication.
4.1 Vericationism
Main article: Vericationist
See also: Abductive reasoning
In the philosophy of science, vericationism (also known
as the veriability theory of meaning) holds that a statement must, in principle, be empirically veriable in order that it be both meaningful and scientic. This was
an essential feature of the logical positivism of the socalled Vienna Circle that included such philosophers as
Moritz Schlick, Rudolf Carnap, Otto Neurath, the Berlin
philosopher Hans Reichenbach, and the logical empiricism of A.J. Ayer.
Popper noticed that the philosophers of the Vienna Circle had mixed two dierent problems, that of meaning
and that of demarcation, and had proposed in vericationism a single solution to both. In opposition to this
view, Popper emphasized that there are meaningful theories that are not scientic, and that, accordingly, a criterion of meaningfulness does not coincide with a criterion
of demarcation.
Thus, Popper urged that veriability be replaced with falsiability as the criterion of demarcation. On the other
hand, he strictly opposed the view that non-falsiable
statements are meaningless or otherwise inherently bad,
and noted that falsicationism does not imply it.[8]
4.2
CRITICISMS
6.2
Evolution
5.4
6.2 Evolution
6.4 Historicism
Examples
Theories of history or politics that allegedly predict fuClaims about veriability and falsiability have been used
ture events have a logical form that renders them neither
to criticize various controversial views. Examining these
falsiable nor veriable. They claim that for every historexamples shows the usefulness of falsiability by showing
ically signicant event, there exists an historical or ecous where to look when attempting to criticise a theory.
nomic law that determines the way in which events proceeded. Failure to identify the law does not mean that it
does not exist, yet an event that satises the law does not
6.1 Economics
prove the general case. Evaluation of such claims is at
best dicult. On this basis, Popper fundamentally critKarl Popper argued that Marxism shifted from falsiable icized historicism in the sense of any preordained preto unfalsiable.[17]
diction of history,[28] and argued that neither Marxism
Some economists, such as those of the Austrian School, nor psychoanalysis was science,[28] although both made
believe that macroeconomics is empirically unfalsiable such claims. Again, this does not mean that any of these
9 NOTES
types of theories is necessarily incorrect. Popper considered falsiability a test of whether theories are scientic,
not of whether propositions that they contain or support
are true.
6.5
Mathematics
Contingency
Defeasible reasoning
Demarcation problem
DuhemQuine thesis
Experimentum crucis
Many philosophers believe that mathematics is not experimentally falsiable, and thus not a science according to
the denition of Karl Popper.[29] However, in the 1930s
Gdels incompleteness theorems proved that there does
not exist a set of axioms for mathematics which is both
complete and consistent. Karl Popper concluded that
most mathematical theories are, like those of physics and
biology, hypothetico-deductive: pure mathematics therefore turns out to be much closer to the natural sciences
whose hypotheses are conjectures, than it seemed even
recently.[30] Other thinkers, notably Imre Lakatos, have
applied a version of falsicationism to mathematics itself.
Fallibilism
Methodological solipsism
Predictive power
Reproducibility
Scientic method
Superseded scientic theory
Quotations
Albert Einstein is reported to have said: No
amount of experimentation can ever prove me
right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.
(paraphrased)[32][33][34]
The criterion of the scientic status of a theory is
its falsiability, or refutability, or testability.
Karl Popper, (Popper, Conjectures and Refutations,
36)[35]
See also
Tautology
Testability
Theory-ladenness
9 Notes
[1] Popper, K. R. (1994). Zwei Bedeutungen von Falsizierbarkeit [Two meanings of falsiability]". In Seiert, H.;
Radnitzky, G. Handlexikon der Wissenschaftstheorie (in
German). Mnchen: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag. pp.
8285. ISBN 3-423-04586-8.
[2] LScD p. 4
Closed circle
[3] LScD, p. 16
Cognitive bias
[11] W. W. Bartley, III: Biology & evolutionary epistemology. Philosophia 6:34 (SeptemberDecember 1976),
pp. 463494
[28] Burton, Dawn (2000). Research training for social scientists: a handbook for postgraduate researchers. SAGE. pp.
1213. ISBN 0-7619-6351-0., Chapter 1, p. 12
[12] Rafe Champion: Agreeing to Disagree: Bartleys Critique of Reason. Melbourne Age Monthly Review (October
1985)
[14] Martin Gardner (2001), A Skeptical Look at Karl Popper, Skeptical Inquirer, 25(4): 13-14, 72.
[15] Lakatos, Imre (1978). The methodology of scientic research programmes: Philosophical Papers Volume I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-28031
1.
[16] Miller, David (2000). Sokal and Bricmont: Back to the
Frying Pan (PDF). Pli 9: 15673., also chapter 6 of
Miller, David (2006). Out of Error. Ashgate.
[17]
[18] Austrian School of Economics: The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics | Library of Economics and Liberty
[19] Methodological Individualism at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
[20] Ludwig von Mises. Human Action, p. 11, r. Purposeful
Action and Animal Reaction. Referenced 2011-11-23.
[21] Ridley, M (2003). Evolution, Third Edition. Blackwell
Publishing Limited. ISBN 1-4051-0345-0.
10 References
Angeles, Peter A. (1992), Harper Collins Dictionary
of Philosophy, 2nd edition, Harper Perennial, New
York, NY. ISBN 0-06-461026-8.
Feyerabend, Paul K., Against Method: Outline of
an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge, Humanities
Press, London, UK, 1975. Reprinted, Verso, London, UK, 1978.
11
Kuhn, Thomas S., The Structure of Scientic Revolutions, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL,
1962. 2nd edition 1970. 3rd edition 1996.
Lakatos, Imre. (1970), Falsication and the
Methodology of Scientic Research Programmes,
in Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, vol. 4.
Imre Lakatos and Alan Musgrave (eds.), Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge.
Lakatos, Imre (1978), The methodology of scientic
research programmes: Philosophical papers, volume
I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN
0-521-28031 1.
Peirce, C.S., Lectures on Pragmatism, Cambridge, MA, March 26 May 17, 1903. Reprinted
in part, Collected Papers, CP 5.14212. Published
in full with editors introduction and commentary,
Patricia Ann Turisi (ed.), Pragmatism as a Principle and Method of Right Thinking: The 1903 Harvard Lectures on Pragmatism, State University of
New York Press, Albany, NY, 1997. Reprinted, pp.
133241, Peirce Edition Project (eds.), The Essential Peirce, Selected Philosophical Writings, Volume 2
(18931913), Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, 1998.
Popper, Karl, The Logic of Scientic Discovery, Basic Books, New York, NY, 1959.
Popper, Karl, Conjectures and Refutations, Routledge, London, 1963.
Runes, Dagobert D. (ed.), Dictionary of Philosophy, Littleeld, Adams, and Company, Totowa, NJ,
1962.
Sokal, Alan, and Bricmont, Jean, Fashionable Nonsense, Picador, New York, NY, 1998.
Theobald, D.L. (2006).
29+ Evidences for
Macroevolution: The Scientic Case for Common
Descent. The Talk.Origins Archive. Version 2.87.
Wood, Ledger (1962), Solipsism, p. 295 in Runes
(ed.), Dictionary of Philosophy, Littleeld, Adams,
and Company, Totowa, NJ.
11
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