Falsificationism

The philosopher of science Karl Popper noticed that the philosophers of the Vienna Circle had mixed two different problems and had accordingly given them a single solution: verificationism. In opposition to this view, Popper emphasized that a theory might well be meaningful without being scientific, and that, accordingly, a criterion of meaningfulness may not necessarily coincide with a criterion of demarcation. His own falsificationism, thus, is not only an alternative to verificationism; it is also an acknowledgment of the conceptual distinction that previous theories had ignored.

Popper saw demarcation as a central problem in the philosophy of science. In place of verificationism he proposed falsificationism as a way of determining if a theory is scientific or not. If a theory is falsifiable, then it is scientific; if it is not falsifiable, then it is not science.

Falsifiability is a property of statements and theories, and is itself neutral. As a demarcation criterion, it seeks to take this property and make it a base for affirming the superiority of falsifiable theories over non-falsifiable ones as a part of science, in effect setting up a political position that might be called falsificationism . However, much that would be considered meaningful and useful is not falsifiable. Certainly non-falsifiable statements have a role in scientific theories themselves. What the Popperian criterion allows to be called scientific is open to interpretation. A strict interpretation would concede too little since there are no scientific theories of interest that are completely free of anomalies. Conversely, if we do not consider the falsifiability of an assumption or theory and the willingness of an individual or group to obtain or accept falsifying instances, we would then permit almost any assumption or theory.

It is nevertheless very useful to know if a statement or theory is falsifiable, if for no other reason than it provides us with an understanding of the ways in which one might assess the theory.