Karl Popper
Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994) was an insightful Austrian-born philosopher who had an influence on science. Popper observed that science should only include a theory that is "falsifiable", which means capable of being proven false if it is false. Popper wrote that "the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability."[1]
Popper proposed applying his theory of falsification to proposals in ethics and politics. Popper's approach even has merit in debunking claims that "if only ..." something happened, then everything would be better. "If only I were a wealthy man, then ...." There is no way to falsify such claims even if they were false, so there is no point in wasting any time thinking about them.
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