falsifiable hypothesis synonym

What does it mean for science to be falsifiable?

Posted on July 31, 2021 by Evan Arnet

Science is falsifiable. Or at least, this is what I (like many Americans) learned in many of my high school and college science classes. Clearly, the idea has appeal among scientists and non-scientists alike:

But what exactly does “falsifiable” mean? And why is it valued by some scientists, but dismissed or even considered actively harmful by others?

Imagine you are an infectious disease expert investigating COVID-19. You want to determine whether, absent vaccination, COVID-19 always causes at least some lung damage. To prove this claim is true, you would have to check every case and see if every time a patient has COVID, there is also lung damage. And for every case you check, there are more new cases to check.

However, to prove this claim is false, you merely need to document a single case in which someone who previously had COVID has no lung damage. This is an extension of the logical point that to prove a general claim, you need to confirm every instance, but to disprove a general claim, you only need a single counterexample. 

The legendary philosopher of science Karl Popper argued that good science is falsifiable, in that it makes precise claims which can be tested and then discarded (falsified) if they don’t hold up under testing. For example, if you find a case of COVID-19 without lung damage, then you falsify the hypothesis that it always causes lung damage. According to Popper, science progresses by making conjectures, subjecting them to rigorous tests, and then discarding those that fail.

He contrasted this with ostensibly unscientific systems, like astrology. Let’s say your horoscope says “something of consequence will happen in your life tomorrow.” Popper argued that a claim like this is so vague, so devoid of clear content, that it can’t be meaningfully falsified and, therefore, isn’t scientific. 

Contemporary scholars who study scientific methodology are often frustrated by the implication that science is logically falsifiable. The problem is that scientists can always make excuses to avoid falsifying a claim. The discovery of Neptune is a famous case. Astronomers had noticed irregularities in the orbit of Uranus. One possibility would be that these irregularities violated the theory currently used to explain planetary motion, called Newtonian mechanics, and that this theory should be rejected. At face value, these observations seemed to falsify Newtonian mechanics. But, no one actually argued for this. Instead, they searched for explanations for the irregularities — including the possibility of another planet. Two astronomers, Urban Leverrier in France and John Couch Adams in England, independently used mathematics to predict the location of this previously unknown planet. Astronomical observations by Johann Gottfried Galle confirmed the existence of a planet and, thus, Neptune was discovered.

Put simply, to test a hypothesis, you have to make a bunch of other assumptions, or auxiliary hypotheses. You have to assume that your instruments are working, that you did the math correctly, that you didn’t miss any relevant causes (like Neptune), etc. When something goes awry, you can then choose whether the real error lies in your main hypothesis or in an auxiliary hypothesis. 

For an illustration of this problem, imagine you are baking lasagna. You Google lasagna recipes, find a recipe that looks good, and get cooking. You take your lasagna out of the oven, take a bite, and…it tastes terrible. Does this mean you can falsify the hypothesis that the lasagna recipe is good? Not necessarily. Maybe you didn’t follow the recipe correctly, or the olive oil was rancid, or any number of problems other than the recipe itself.

Similar to the COVID example above, we can imagine a scientist arguing that because of poor resolution in a CT scan, lung damage was not detected when it did in fact occur. In other words, the presumed false hypothesis is not that COVID always causes lung damage. Instead, what is allegedly false is the assumption, or auxiliary hypothesis, that the CT scan was detailed enough to detect the lung damage.

This general argument against falsification is sometimes attributed to the philosopher W. V. O. Quine in a famous 1951 article, but it was actually a widely-expressed concern, including by Karl Popper himself. However, Popper thought that features necessary for the testing of scientific claims would be accepted as background conditions by the scientific community and, therefore, falsification could proceed. For example, after it is accepted that the oven temperature is correct and the ingredients are in good condition and measured properly, then one can test whether the lasagna recipe is any good.

Regardless, when a scientist touts the falsifiability of science, it is rare that they are a strict devotee of Popper. (He held some unorthodox views, e.g., we can never actually gain confidence in a theory, we can only eliminate alternatives.) Usually they mean that, unlike some other systems, science makes deliberately clear predictions and actively attempts to disprove claims.

One of the amazing things about science is not so much its tight logical structure — the scientific process can actually be quite messy — but rather, that science aims to test claims and consider countermanding evidence. The sociologist of science Robert Merton referred to this as “organized skepticism.” (Incidentally, despite his reputation for prioritizing logical falsification, Karl Popper was attentive to this social aspect of science.)

Falsification as a matter of scientific practice, rather than logic, is especially significant because humans like to be right. We are inclined to seek out evidence which supports rather than challenges our existing opinions, a well-known phenomenon that is often referred to as confirmation bias . Science fights against this cognitive tendency by encouraging individual scientists to think critically about their own work and for the broader community to be skeptical of each other. 

Falsification does not stand alone as the mark of the scientific, and a lot of scientific research aims to confirm claims or to evaluate claims on metrics other than strict truth or falsity. Nonetheless, the willingness and intent to vigorously confront claims with evidence remains a key aspect of the scientific community. This requires attention to the formulation of claims to ensure they are testable. But, even more important is the careful coordination across the scientific community that allows scientific skepticism to lead to productive research.

Edited by Jennifer Sieben and Joe Vuletich

This was a fantastic explanation of a concept that I’ve always had difficulty understanding.

Great article, you really explain it well! I was looking for the line, “science tries to disprove itself by falsification,” and this article was on the list.

At the health sciences center where I worked for 8 years, the idea was widespread that anybody could come up with an explanation or hypothesis for some physiology or biochemical facts, so much so that you couldn’t be bothered if all it did was explain the data. A lecture with a mathematical model involving modeling biochemistry with 100 different equation in a seminar led to the reaction (from me) , how would you know if one or more equation was wrong? Feynman, the skeptical physicist from the Bronx would make a characteristic short reply to a non-falsifiable claim “how would you know?”. The writers above in this thread point out that a community that uses publication of scientific results in the newly public publications of the new scientific societies of the 16nth century that made replication of studies possible and publication is a key factor. I have heard chemists reply disdainfully of the guy whose published synthesis can never be repeated. You may have heard about the humor magazine “journal of irreproducible results”. Doubting your own assumptions maybe 1 per day, is a potentially painful exercise that is at the heart of being a scientist. A person who tends to rote memorization, or good boy behavior may not be a scientists if they do not think in terms of falsification but simply truthiness. It is disturbing that some people propose that string theory does not need to generate testable results and can get by on beauty alone.

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Falsifiability

Karl popper's basic scientific principle, karl popper's basic scientific principle.

Falsifiability, according to the philosopher Karl Popper, defines the inherent testability of any scientific hypothesis.

This article is a part of the guide:

• Inductive Reasoning
• Deductive Reasoning
• Hypothetico-Deductive Method
• Scientific Reasoning
• Testability

Browse Full Outline

• 1 Scientific Reasoning
• 2.1 Falsifiability
• 2.2 Verification Error
• 2.3 Testability
• 2.4 Post Hoc Reasoning
• 3 Deductive Reasoning
• 4.1 Raven Paradox
• 5 Causal Reasoning
• 6 Abductive Reasoning
• 7 Defeasible Reasoning

Science and philosophy have always worked together to try to uncover truths about the universe we live in. Indeed, ancient philosophy can be understood as the originator of many of the separate fields of study we have today, including psychology, medicine, law, astronomy, art and even theology.

Scientists design experiments and try to obtain results verifying or disproving a hypothesis, but philosophers are interested in understanding what factors determine the validity of scientific endeavors in the first place.

Whilst most scientists work within established paradigms, philosophers question the paradigms themselves and try to explore our underlying assumptions and definitions behind the logic of how we seek knowledge. Thus there is a feedback relationship between science and philosophy - and sometimes plenty of tension!

One of the tenets behind the scientific method is that any scientific hypothesis and resultant experimental design must be inherently falsifiable. Although falsifiability is not universally accepted, it is still the foundation of the majority of scientific experiments. Most scientists accept and work with this tenet, but it has its roots in philosophy and the deeper questions of truth and our access to it.

What is Falsifiability?

Falsifiability is the assertion that for any hypothesis to have credence, it must be inherently disprovable before it can become accepted as a scientific hypothesis or theory.

For example, someone might claim "the earth is younger than many scientists state, and in fact was created to appear as though it was older through deceptive fossils etc.” This is a claim that is unfalsifiable because it is a theory that can never be shown to be false. If you were to present such a person with fossils, geological data or arguments about the nature of compounds in the ozone, they could refute the argument by saying that your evidence was fabricated to appeared that way, and isn’t valid.

Importantly, falsifiability doesn’t mean that there are currently arguments against a theory, only that it is possible to imagine some kind of argument which would invalidate it. Falsifiability says nothing about an argument's inherent validity or correctness. It is only the minimum trait required of a claim that allows it to be engaged with in a scientific manner – a dividing line between what is considered science and what isn’t. Another important point is that falsifiability is not any claim that has yet to be proven true. After all, a conjecture that hasn’t been proven yet is just a hypothesis.

The idea is that no theory is completely correct , but if it can be shown both to be falsifiable  and supported with evidence that shows it's true, it can be accepted as truth.

For example, Newton's Theory of Gravity was accepted as truth for centuries, because objects do not randomly float away from the earth. It appeared to fit the data obtained by experimentation and research , but was always subject to testing.

However, Einstein's theory makes falsifiable predictions that are different from predictions made by Newton's theory, for example concerning the precession of the orbit of Mercury, and gravitational lensing of light. In non-extreme situations Einstein's and Newton's theories make the same predictions, so they are both correct. But Einstein's theory holds true in a superset of the conditions in which Newton's theory holds, so according to the principle of Occam's Razor , Einstein's theory is preferred. On the other hand, Newtonian calculations are simpler, so Newton's theory is useful for almost any engineering project, including some space projects. But for GPS we need Einstein's theory. Scientists would not have arrived at either of these theories, or a compromise between both of them, without the use of testable, falsifiable experiments. 

Popper saw falsifiability as a black and white definition; that if a theory is falsifiable, it is scientific , and if not, then it is unscientific. Whilst some "pure" sciences do adhere to this strict criterion, many fall somewhere between the two extremes, with  pseudo-sciences  falling at the extreme end of being unfalsifiable. 

Pseudoscience

According to Popper, many branches of applied science, especially social science, are not truly scientific because they have no potential for falsification.

Anthropology and sociology, for example, often use case studies to observe people in their natural environment without actually testing any specific hypotheses or theories.

While such studies and ideas are not falsifiable, most would agree that they are scientific because they significantly advance human knowledge.

Popper had and still has his fair share of critics, and the question of how to demarcate legitimate scientific enquiry can get very convoluted. Some statements are logically falsifiable but not practically falsifiable – consider the famous example of “it will rain at this location in a million years' time.” You could absolutely conceive of a way to test this claim, but carrying it out is a different story.

Thus, falsifiability is not a simple black and white matter. The Raven Paradox shows the inherent danger of relying on falsifiability, because very few scientific experiments can measure all of the data, and necessarily rely upon generalization . Technologies change along with our aims and comprehension of the phenomena we study, and so the falsifiability criterion for good science is subject to shifting.

For many sciences, the idea of falsifiability is a useful tool for generating theories that are testable and realistic. Testability is a crucial starting point around which to design solid experiments that have a chance of telling us something useful about the phenomena in question. If a falsifiable theory is tested and the results are significant , then it can become accepted as a scientific truth.

The advantage of Popper's idea is that such truths can be falsified when more knowledge and resources are available. Even long accepted theories such as Gravity, Relativity and Evolution are increasingly challenged and adapted.

The major disadvantage of falsifiability is that it is very strict in its definitions and does not take into account the contributions of sciences that are observational and descriptive .

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Martyn Shuttleworth , Lyndsay T Wilson (Sep 21, 2008). Falsifiability. Retrieved Apr 01, 2024 from Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/falsifiability

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Meaning of "falsifiable" in the English dictionary

Pronunciation of falsifiable, grammatical category of falsifiable, what does falsifiable mean in english.

Falsifiability

Definition of falsifiable in the english dictionary.

The definition of falsifiable in the dictionary is testable; open to revision in the light of further evidence.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH FALSIFIABLE

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TRANSLATION OF FALSIFIABLE

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Examples of use in the english literature, quotes and news about falsifiable, 2 quotes with «falsifiable», 10 english books relating to «falsifiable», 10 news items which include the term «falsifiable».

A scientific hypothesis (pl. hypotheses) is an evidence-based , testable , and falsifiable (shown to be wrong) statement about how some aspect of the world works.

A hypothesis is usually written in the form of an if/then statement. It could also include the word "may". [1]

A simple example of a hypothesis could be "fire requires oxygen." It is evidence-based because fire is seen to exist in air, which contains oxygen, and can be put out by water which can cut off the air supply to the fire. It is testable because you can devise a test (removing oxygen from the area of a fire) that will either affirm the hypothesis or not. It is falsifiable because if you take away oxygen from a fire, and the fire continues to burn, the hypothesis is shown to be wrong.

• 3 References
• 4 External links

Tips [ edit | edit source ]

• Make hypotheses as explicit, clear, and understandable to an outside reader as possible.
• Break complicated hypotheses down into sub-hypotheses.
• Each hypothesis should be able to be tested using a single test (or series of related tests).
• Hypotheses can be expressed as null and/or alternative hypotheses.
• Hypotheses can be written in sentences or paragraphs. They can also be numbered.

See also [ edit | edit source ]

• Hypothesis (Wikipedia)
• Research questions

References [ edit | edit source ]

External links [ edit | edit source ].

• Research questions & hypotheses (wilderdom.com)
• Hypothesis at YourDictionary

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The Unfalsifiable Hypothesis Paradox

What is the unfalsifiable hypothesis paradox.

Imagine someone tells you a story about a dragon that breathes not fire, but invisible, heatless fire. You grab a thermometer to test the claim but no matter what, you can’t prove it’s not true because you can’t measure something that’s invisible and has no heat. This is what we call an ‘unfalsifiable hypothesis’—it’s a claim that’s made in such a way that it can’t be proven wrong, no matter what.

Now, the paradox is this: in science, being able to prove or disprove a claim makes it strong and believable. If nobody could ever prove a hypothesis wrong, you’d think it’s completely reliable, right? But actually, in science, that makes it weak! If we can’t test a claim, then it’s not really playing by the rules of science. So, the paradox is that not being able to prove something wrong can make a claim scientifically useless—even though it seems like it would be the ultimate truth.

Key Arguments

• An unfalsifiable hypothesis is a claim that can’t be proven wrong, but just because we can’t disprove it, that doesn’t make it automatically true.
• Science grows and improves through testing ideas; if we can’t test a claim, we can’t know if it’s really valid.
• Being able to show that an idea could be wrong is a fundamental part of scientific thinking. Without this testability, a claim is more like a personal belief or a philosophical idea than a scientific one.
• An unfalsifiable hypothesis might look like it’s scientific, but it’s misleading since it doesn’t stick to the strict rules of testing and evidence that science needs.
• Using unfalsifiable claims can block our paths to understanding since they stop us from asking questions and looking for verifiable answers.
• The dragon with invisible, heatless fire: This is an example of an unfalsifiable hypothesis because no test or observation could ever show that the dragon’s fire isn’t real, since it can’t be detected in any way.
• Saying a celestial teapot orbits the Sun between Earth and Mars: This teapot is said to be small and far enough away that no telescope could spot it. Because it’s undetectable, we can’t disprove its existence.
• A theory that angels are responsible for keeping us gravitationally bound to Earth: Since we can’t test for the presence or actions of angels, we can’t refute the claim, making it unfalsifiable.
• The statement that the world’s sorrow is caused by invisible spirits: It sounds serious, but if we can’t measure or observe these spirits, we can’t possibly prove this idea right or wrong.

Answer or Resolution

Dealing with the Unfalsifiable Hypothesis Paradox means finding a balance. We can’t just ignore all ideas that can’t be tested because some might lead to real scientific breakthroughs one day. On the other side, we can’t treat untestable claims as true science. It’s about being open to possibilities but also clear about what counts as scientific evidence.

Some people might say we should only focus on what can be proven wrong. Others think even wild ideas have their place at the starting line of science—they inspire us and can evolve into something testable later on.

Major Criticism

Some people criticize the idea of rejecting all unfalsifiable ideas because that could block new ways of thinking. Sometimes a wild guess can turn into a real scientific discovery. Plus, falsifiability is just one part of what makes a theory scientific. We shouldn’t throw away potentially good ideas just because they don’t fit one rule, especially when they’re still in the early stages and shouldn’t be held too tightly to any rules at all.

Another point is that some important ideas have been unfalsifiable at first but later became testable. So, we have to recognize that science itself can change and grow.

Practical Applications

You might wonder, “Why does this matter to me?” Well, knowing about the Unfalsifiable Hypothesis Paradox actually affects a lot of real-world situations, like how we learn things in school, the kinds of products we buy, and even the rules and laws that are made.

• Education: By learning what makes science solid, students can tell the difference between real science and just a bunch of fancy words that sound scientific but aren’t based on testable ideas.
• Consumer Protection: Sometimes companies try to sell things by using science-sounding claims that can’t be proven wrong—and that’s where knowing about unfalsifiable hypotheses helps protect us from buying into false promises.
• Legal and Policy Making: For people who make laws or guide big decisions, understanding this concept helps them judge if a study or report is really based on solid science.

Related Topics

The Unfalsifiable Hypothesis Paradox is linked with a couple of other important ideas you might hear about:

• Scientific Method: This is the set of steps scientists use to learn about the world. Part of the process is making sure ideas can be tested.
• Pseudoscience: These are beliefs or practices that try to appear scientific but don’t follow the scientific method properly, often using unfalsifiable claims.
• Empiricism : This big word just means learning by observation and experiment—the backbone of science and everything opposite of unfalsifiable concepts.

Wrapping up, the Unfalsifiable Hypothesis Paradox shows us that science isn’t just about coming up with ideas—it’s about being able to test them, too. Untestable claims may be interesting, but they can’t help us understand the world in a scientific way. But remember, just because an idea is unfalsifiable now doesn’t mean it will be forever. The best approach is using that creative spark but always grounding it in what we can observe and prove. This balance keeps our imaginations soaring but our facts checked, forming a bridge between our wildest ideas and the world we can measure and know.

Falsifiability

Falsifiability is the ability for something to be proven wrong or be proven false. This concept was first introduced by scientist Karl Popper (1902-1994) whose interest focused on how to properly separate real, legitimate science from pseudo-science. Now falsifiability is typically used in regards to the scientific method and empirical testing. If something exhibits falsifiability and is falsifiable then it can be proven wrong. For instance, in hypothesis testing the null hypothesis is proposed by the researcher as the opposite of what their hypothesis is. The null hypothesis is either rejected (which means the hypothesis is supported) or is not rejected. The null hypothesis is essentially a statement about falsifiability.

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Definition of 'falsifiable'

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