Falsification 101

The term "falsify", or "falsification", is a common term within science. However, in my interaction with magical thinkers (the religious, proponents of alternatives to medicine, and all other pseudoscientists), it is clear to me that they really don't understand it. Below is an attempt to educate on the matter.

Falsification is the act of disproving a proposition, hypothesis, or theory (link). While this has been a bedrock of science since Karl Popper formulated and named the process in the mid-20th century (link), as science has progressed and has hit many barriers to falsification, some controversy has arisen in opposition to strict adherence to it (link).

Unfortunately, many magical thinking promoters have seized on this disagreement to support unfalsifiable claims. The article below does a good job of challenging such obfuscation.

"A theory that is falsifiable in principle seems stronger than one that is unfalsifiable in principle (assuming all other qualities of the theories are equal). This is especially true in science.

"However, some foundational beliefs seem to be true even though they are unfalsifiable, but it is important to remember that they are not justified because they are unfalsifiable. In short, one can use the falsifiability test to evaluate many claims and theories. If it is unfalsifiable, we need to give very strong reasons why the theory is justified."

Click on the link below.

A theory is stronger when it is falsifiable.