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Logic & science4 MINExtended dossierPhilosophical framework

Falsifiability

If an explanation can accommodate every possible result, what observation could genuinely test it?

01 / SUMMARY

In short

Popper proposed falsifiability as a demarcation criterion: an empirical theory must rule out some possible outcomes. Passing severe tests may provisionally corroborate it, but never establish it forever.

02 / SEQUENCE

What happens

  1. 01

    The theory makes claims that rule out certain outcomes.

  2. 02

    A test is designed in which failure is genuinely possible.

  3. 03

    Survival raises provisional confidence; failure prompts review of theory, measurement, and assumptions.

03 / SCENE

In the wild

“This treatment always helps, except when invisible reasons stop it” evades refutation. A measurable prediction about dose, population, and outcome takes a risk.

04 / LIMIT

The limit

One anomaly does not automatically destroy a complex theory, and an unfalsifiable statement is not necessarily false or meaningless.

FINAL NOTE

What remains

A strong empirical explanation does more than fit the past: it states which result would put it in trouble.

CHECK / 01

Put it to work

01

How firm is your read?

Which statement is most falsifiable?