Quotation
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“The criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability.”
Karl Popper · Philosophy of science · Modern · 1963
What does it mean?
The scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability. He lines the words up so that none of them can drift into 'we tested it a bit and liked it'. A rival reading says the triple phrase is rhetoric, and that testability in real science is a matter of degree he pretends is a line. He wants a line for status, not a scale of how scientific a theory feels. Another reading equates this essay with the 1934 book. The criterion is the same.
Did Karl Popper really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. Popper's English in the opening essay of Conjectures and Refutations, 'Science: Conjectures and Refutations'. The three nouns are his glosses on one criterion. The essay explains how he came to it through Einstein, Marx, Freud, and Adler.
Where it comes from
Conjectures and Refutations, chapter 1
Approximate date: 1963.
How to use it
A charity in Bristol says its theory of change is testable because it collects success stories. He would ask what story would refute it. If none would, the theory may still guide the charity. It does not have the status he reserves for science. The distinction is rude, and it is the distinction the essay exists to make. Success stories are confirmations. Confirmations are exactly what he thought were too cheap.
A mindset reading
Chapter 1 is the place to send a reader who finds The Logic of Scientific Discovery too technical. It is not a lesser source. It is the public argument. The technical book is still the one for the criterion's machinery.
Understand the philosophy
Conjectures and Refutations, 1963. The title is the method: bold guesses, severe attempts to refute. This sentence is the status of the guesses. It does not say the refuted guess was a waste. The refutation is how he thinks knowledge grows.
- knowledge
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
The scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability. He lines the words up so that none of them can drift into 'we tested it a bit and liked it'. A rival reading says the triple phrase is rhetoric, and that testability in real science is a matter of degree he pretends is a line. He wants a line for status, not a scale of how scientific a theory feels. Another reading equates this essay with the 1934 book. The criterion is the same.
Did Karl Popper really say this?
Well attested. Popper's English in the opening essay of Conjectures and Refutations, 'Science: Conjectures and Refutations'. The three nouns are his glosses on one criterion. The essay explains how he came to it through Einstein, Marx, Freud, and Adler.
Which work is it in?
Conjectures and Refutations, chapter 1 Approximate date: 1963.