Scientific Philosophy : Popper’s Falsificationism

Now I want to talk about some theories about scientific philosophy. I want to introduce a great scientific philosopher Karl Popper(1902-1994) and his theory.

Popper’s theory is called “Falsificationism”(否證論), which means the nature of science is to prove a theory to be false. Every single theory is facing the challenge of experiment. We should derive propositions from theories or hypothesizes waiting to be tested. A scientific theory should have the ability to give a testable statement or prediction. This property is called “Falsifiability”(可證偽性). Therefore we can do experiments to test this theory. These experiments are called “crucial experiment”(決斷實驗). If a theory doesn’t satisfy the demand of falsifiability, it is not a “scientific” theory.

Does a theory pass the test of crucial experiment a correct theory? No! Crucial experiment only prove other theories are wrong. For example, the tests of Einstein’s theory of relativity didn’t prove relativity is correct, but prove Newton’s mechanics are wrong! Relativity is corroborated(被認可) temporarily.

Falsifiability as a definition of science is widely accepted by scientific community. But I cannot totally agree the original definition of falsifiability. In that case, mathematics and string theory are no longer science because they couldn’t give crucial experiment! Maybe we can expand the definition or falsifiability.

Next week I want to introduce another great philosopher Kuhn and his theory.