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→Objection to Falsifiability
Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote against the doctrine of [[falsifiability]] in his dissent from the landmark ''Daubert'' decision, which may have caused little use of that important doctrine in courts:
Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote against the doctrine of [[falsifiability]] in his dissent from the landmark ''Daubert'' decision, which may have caused little use of that important doctrine in courts:
{{cquote|The Court speaks of its confidence that federal judges can make a "preliminary assessment of whether the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid and of whether that reasoning or methodology properly can be applied to the facts in issue." ''Ante'', at 592-593. The Court then states that a "key question" to be answered in deciding whether something is "scientific knowledge" "will be whether it can be (and has been) tested." ''Ante'', at 593. Following this sentence are three quotations from treatises, which not only speak of empirical testing, but one of which states that the "'criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability.'" ''Ibid.''
{{cquote|The Court speaks of its [[confidence]] that federal judges can make a "preliminary assessment of whether the reasoning or methodology underlying the testimony is scientifically valid and of whether that reasoning or methodology properly can be applied to the facts in issue." ''Ante'', at 592-593. The Court then states that a "key question" to be answered in deciding whether something is "scientific knowledge" "will be whether it can be (and has been) tested." ''Ante'', at 593. Following this sentence are three quotations from treatises, which not only speak of empirical testing, but one of which states that the "'criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability.'" ''Ibid.''
I defer to no one in my confidence in federal judges; but I am at a loss to know what is meant when it is said that the scientific status of a theory depends on its "falsifiability," and I suspect some of them will be, too.
I defer to no one in my confidence in federal judges; but I am at a loss to know what is meant when it is said that the scientific status of a theory depends on its "falsifiability," and I suspect some of them will be, too.