falsificationism
E69412
epistemological doctrine
philosophy of science
scientific methodology
theory of scientific rationality
Falsificationism is a philosophy of science, chiefly associated with Karl Popper, which holds that scientific theories can never be conclusively verified but can and should be rigorously tested and potentially refuted by empirical evidence.
Aliases (2)
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
epistemological doctrine
→
philosophy of science → scientific methodology → theory of scientific rationality → |
| addresses |
problem of induction
→
scientific progress → |
| aimsAt |
increasing verisimilitude of theories
→
|
| alsoKnownAs |
critical rationalism
→
|
| articulatedIn |
Conjectures and Refutations
→
The Logic of Scientific Discovery → |
| associatedWith |
Karl Popper
→
|
| contrastsWith |
confirmation holism
→
inductivism → |
| coreClaim |
scientific theories can be refuted by empirical evidence
→
scientific theories can never be conclusively verified → scientific theories should be subjected to rigorous tests → the mark of a scientific theory is falsifiability → |
| criterionFor |
demarcation between science and non-science
→
|
| criticizedBy |
Imre Lakatos
→
Paul Feyerabend → Thomas Kuhn → |
| developedBy |
Karl Popper
→
|
| developedIn |
20th century
→
|
| emphasizes |
conjectures and refutations
→
refutation over verification → severe testing of hypotheses → |
| holdsThat |
a single counter-instance can falsify a universal law
→
no amount of positive instances can conclusively confirm a universal law → |
| implies |
scientific knowledge is provisional
→
scientific theories are conjectural → |
| influenced |
methodology of modern science
→
philosophy of scientific practice → |
| influencedBy |
Albert Einstein
→
David Hume → |
| normativeClaim |
scientists should try to refute rather than confirm their theories
→
|
| opposes |
logical positivism
→
verificationism → |
| relatedTo |
fallibilism
→
hypothetico-deductive method → scientific realism → |
| requires |
openness to refutation
→
potentially falsifying observations → testable predictions → |
| supports |
methodological skepticism
→
rational criticism of theories → |
| usedIn |
experimental design
→
hypothesis testing → |
| viewOnTheories |
theories are accepted tentatively until falsified
→
|
Referenced by (5)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Karl Popper
→
|
knownFor |
|
Karl Popper
("critical rationalism")
→
|
movement |
|
Karl Popper
("theory of falsifiability")
→
|
notableFor |
|
The Logic of Scientific Discovery
("critical rationalism")
→
|
philosophicalTradition |
|
The Poverty of Historicism
("critical rationalism")
→
|
supports |