The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #144682   Message #3357676
Posted By: TheSnail
31-May-12 - 11:38 AM
Thread Name: BS: Young Earth Creationism Eureka--Contd...
Subject: RE: BS: Young Earth Creationism Eureka--Contd...
Just as a matter of passing interest, Shimrod, what's your position on falsifiability?

This may help -

Falsifiability

Popper coined the term "critical rationalism" to describe his philosophy. The term indicates his rejection of classical empiricism, and the classical observationalist-inductivist account of science that had grown out of it. Popper argued strongly against the latter, holding that scientific theories are abstract in nature, and can be tested only indirectly, by reference to their implications. He also held that scientific theory, and human knowledge generally, is irreducibly conjectural or hypothetical, and is generated by the creative imagination in order to solve problems that have arisen in specific historio-cultural settings.

Logically, no number of positive outcomes at the level of experimental testing can confirm a scientific theory, but a single counterexample is logically decisive: it shows the theory, from which the implication is derived, to be false. The term "falsifiable" does not mean something is made false, but rather that, if it is false, it can be shown by observation or experiment. Popper's account of the logical asymmetry between verification and falsifiability lies at the heart of his philosophy of science. It also inspired him to take falsifiability as his criterion of demarcation between what is, and is not, genuinely scientific: a theory should be considered scientific if, and only if, it is falsifiable.


Take your time. I'm off making merry music and avoiding the Jubilee for a few days.