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I've changed the definition, as the previous one was not accurate. A theory is falsifiable if it is hypothetically possible to refute it by test or observation [[User:Xyrophile|Xyrophile]] 10:30, 7 June 2008 (EDT)
I've changed the definition, as the previous one was not accurate. A theory is falsifiable if it is hypothetically possible to refute it by test or observation [[User:Xyrophile|Xyrophile]] 10:30, 7 June 2008 (EDT)
::The definition that you are using is not adequate and has too many ways to avoid or negate it. In the first place it it not clearly stated that falsifiability is supposed to be a criterion applied to scientific method. There are basically two types of proof in scientific method. There is the proof of deduction and proof of existence. The proof of deduction, which involves the logical construction of the theory is always falsifiable by showing that the logical structure is faulty or that there was a mistake in the assumptions or axioms used. That is if it can be shown that an axiom is invalid then the theory is falsified. Usually the logical test is logical consistency, but theories such as special relativity have been shown to be logically inconsistent but they are not believed to be falsified. The second part of the method, proof of existence involves verification of the predictions made by the proof of deduction. This requires that the predictions made by the theory to be tested are uniquely true such that the claims being tested are distinctly accessible to observational test. A good example of a theory that fails this particular test is special relativity. Special relativity produces non-unique contradictory predictions and so can not be tested so as to identify whether that theory is true to nature or some other theory may produce the same results. For example the Ives-Stillwell was performed and presented as proof that an aether existed according to Herbert Ives. Ives developed his theory and presented his results as proof that aether existed. However, the supporters of Einstein claimed that the experimental proof presented by Ives proved that special relativity was valid and so we have that the experiment proves two different theories are valid and correct. Hence, any theory in order to be consistent with the falsification criteria has to make clear predictions so as to differentiate it form other similar theories and those predictions have to identify uniquely true aspects of what is to be tested so that it does not produce a false positive result of the test.
== "Joe beats his children because his father beat him" ==
== "Joe beats his children because his father beat him" ==