The falsifiability of a hypothesis or statement, i.e. the inherent possibility of making observations that can prove the hypothesis wrong.
Questions tagged [falsifiability]
71 questions
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Is the claim "this coin is fair" falsifiable?
Wikipedia says,
The claim "No human lives forever" is
not falsifiable since one would have
to observe a human living forever to
falsify that claim.
Thinking on similar lines, even if the coin is fair, it can produce a arbitrarily…
AIB
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Falsification in Math vs Science
In the beginning it was thought that the statement 1+1=0 is false, and necessarily so.
However, with the birth of modular arithmetic, it was found that indeed, 1+1 does indeed equal to 0 (in the mod 2 setting).
Now in the sciences for example…
K9Lucario
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15
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7 answers
Is reductio ad absurdum a fallacy?
If Miles told Frank: “Copying a DVD is stealing”
And Frank's response to Miles: “if copying a DVD is stealing, then, by that logic, taking a photo of someone is kidnapping”
And Miles Response is: “They are not comparable”
Is Miles right. Or is…
Jesse Kapahua
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14
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9 answers
Is naturalism falsifiable?
From Wikipedia:
In philosophy, naturalism is the idea or belief that only natural laws and forces (as opposed to supernatural ones) operate in the universe.[1]
Naturalism is not so much a special system as a point of view or tendency common to a…
user48437
13
votes
5 answers
Is the scientific method, itself, falsifiable?
Fundamental to science is the concept of hypotheses being falsifiable. A falsifiable hypothesis, naturally, is one which could be proven wrong by empirical experimentation or observation.
Karl Popper advocated for "critical rationalism," and built…
Cort Ammon
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If we encounter what appears to be an advanced extraterrestrial technological device, would the claim that it was designed be falsifiable?
Suppose we go to Mars and come across what appears to be a highly advanced technological device of extraterrestrial origin. Let's call this object X. Would the claim "X was designed" be falsifiable? That is, if we assume that the hypothesis "X was…
Mark
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"There is no difference, if no difference can be detected"
As far as I remember there was an ancient philosopher who said something like "there is no difference (between two objects) if no difference can be detected", but I don't remember who was that and how exactly it was worded.
Could someone help me?
user626528
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Does Intelligent Design fulfill the necessary criteria to be recognized as a scientific theory?
I am seeking a comprehensive and rigorous analysis of the concept of Intelligent Design (ID) in order to determine whether it meets the essential requirements to be considered a scientific theory. I am particularly interested in gathering insights…
Mark
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A testable hypothesis where its negation is not testable?
I am reading Popper's "Conjectures and Refutations" (2002 edition) where he writes on page 54 in the footnote:
Thus the negation of any nonsense will be nonsense, and that of a
meaningful statement will be meaningful. But the negation of a
testable…
Christoph
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Explaining to my 11 year old why the question "Will robots ever have feelings" is part of philosophy, not science?
My 11 year old is tasked with interpreting a Seneca quote. I started out by trying to explain to him what ethics is by contrasting 'Will robots ever have feelings?' as a question in Philosophy of Mind, with 'Should robots have rights?' a question in…
Alexander S King
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Are there any potential flaws in the definition of validity as "provable or falsifiable"?
I have made an argument in another thread that a proposition must be provable or falsifiable to be valid. Are there any flaws in this definition of validity? What might be a potential counter-argument here?
Is there some other criteria that can be…
Chad
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How can theists respond to the argument that God is "unfalsifiable"?
In this short essay, "Theology and Falsification", Anthony Flew argues that the idea of God is unfalsifiable.
Flew gives the following example: A person of faith asserts that God loves his children. A sceptic points out that there are innocent…
Alexander S King
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How can we know anything is false, based on subjective guesswork?
How convinced are you of there being aliens in the universe? Sure, you might not be able to quantify this on any scale. But the level of conviction you feel is certainly there in your consciousness. You may feel more convinced by X than Y or vice…
thinkingman
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Are uncomputable numbers/things a problem for Wheeler's "it from bit"?
I have some questions related to Wheeler's ideas of "It from bit" and "Law without law"
In summary, these both theories postulate that there was an initial universe with no laws from which laws of physics appeared from informational processes (It…
physistack
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What is the philosophical status of interpretations of a scientific theory?
What constitutes an interpretation of a scientific theory? Are interpretations subject to scientific criteria like falsifiability, repeatability, etc, or are they philosophical comments? And finally, are they necessary/useful?
This question is…
asmani
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