Quotation
Last reviewed:
“Not the verifiability but the falsifiability of a system is to be taken as a criterion of demarcation.”
Karl Popper · Philosophy of science · Modern · 1959
What does it mean?
Not verifiability but falsifiability is the criterion of demarcation, the line between empirical science and what is not. A system is scientific if it can clash with possible observation, not if it has been verified. A rival reading says this is a slogan that real science, which protects cores and adjusts auxiliaries, does not obey. He thinks the criterion is logical, a question about what the system forbids, not a diary of laboratory life. Another reading uses falsifiability as a compliment paid to any bold opinion. Boldness without a forbidden observation is not the criterion.
Did Karl Popper really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. The English edition of Logik der Forschung. Section 6 states the criterion of demarcation. Verifiability had been the positivist hope. He replaces it with falsifiability. This is a different sentence from the two-part remark already in the library about statements that speak about reality.
Where it comes from
The Logic of Scientific Discovery, section 6
Approximate date: 1959.
How to use it
A policy unit in London says its model is evidence-based because it has found examples that fit. Section 6 asks what the model forbids. If it can praise every outcome, it has not yet been demarcated as a claim about the world. The unit can still be useful. It should not use his word for a search that only collects yeses.
A mindset reading
Demarcation is not a theory of truth. A falsifiable theory can be false, and a surviving one is corroborated, not verified. The sentence already in this library, about speaking about reality, is the companion. They say the same doctrine from two angles. Keep both rather than merging them into one vague 'science can be wrong'.
Understand the philosophy
Logik der Forschung, 1934, English 1959. Section 6 is the place to cite. The Open Society is a different book, about politics. Falsifiability does not, by itself, tell you how to run a democracy, though he thought the attitudes were cousins.
- knowledge
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
Not verifiability but falsifiability is the criterion of demarcation, the line between empirical science and what is not. A system is scientific if it can clash with possible observation, not if it has been verified. A rival reading says this is a slogan that real science, which protects cores and adjusts auxiliaries, does not obey. He thinks the criterion is logical, a question about what the system forbids, not a diary of laboratory life. Another reading uses falsifiability as a compliment paid to any bold opinion. Boldness without a forbidden observation is not the criterion.
Did Karl Popper really say this?
Well attested. The English edition of Logik der Forschung. Section 6 states the criterion of demarcation. Verifiability had been the positivist hope. He replaces it with falsifiability. This is a different sentence from the two-part remark already in the library about statements that speak about reality.
Which work is it in?
The Logic of Scientific Discovery, section 6 Approximate date: 1959.