Falsificationism
Falsificationism is Popper's view that science advances by proposing bold conjectures and rigorously trying to refute them.
Definition
Falsificationism holds that the rationality of science lies not in proving theories but in subjecting falsifiable conjectures to severe tests and discarding those that fail, with surviving theories counting as corroborated rather than confirmed.
Scope
This topic covers Popper's critical rationalism, the asymmetry between verification and falsification, the notions of corroboration and severe testing, and the principal difficulties, including the Duhem-Quine problem and the gap between logical and methodological falsifiability that Lakatos sought to close.
Core questions
- Why is falsification logically asymmetric with verification?
- What is corroboration, and is it a disguised form of induction?
- How does the Duhem-Quine problem threaten naive falsification?
- Can falsificationism describe actual scientific practice?
Key concepts
- falsifiability
- corroboration
- severe testing
- verisimilitude
- ad hoc modification
- Duhem-Quine problem
Key theories
- Conjectures and refutations
- Science grows by proposing testable conjectures and eliminating those refuted by experience, never establishing theories as true.
- Sophisticated falsificationism
- Lakatos modifies Popper by appraising research programmes rather than isolated theories, allowing a refuted theory to be retained within a progressive programme.
History
Popper developed falsificationism from the 1930s, most fully in The Logic of Scientific Discovery (German 1934, English 1959) and Conjectures and Refutations (1963). Lakatos's 1970 critique exposed the limits of naive falsification and recast it as the methodology of research programmes.
Debates
- Naive versus sophisticated falsificationism
- Because the Duhem-Quine problem means a failed test never refutes a single hypothesis, Lakatos argues falsification must operate at the level of competing research programmes, not isolated theories.
Key figures
- Karl Popper
- Imre Lakatos
Related topics
Seminal works
- popper1959
- popper1963
Frequently asked questions
- Does corroboration just smuggle induction back in?
- Critics argue that treating a well-corroborated theory as a better guide to the future is implicitly inductive. Popper denied this, holding that corroboration is only a report of past testing performance, not a prediction of future success, though the issue remains contested.