Reference: Essays on Substance
Falsifiability
There has been a long standing criterion of verifiability. It states that only statements verifiable through direct observation are meaningful. We now add to it the logical criterion falsifiability.
A theory or hypothesis is falsifiable if it can be logically contradicted by a possible direct sensation or experience. For example, a theory “all crows are black” is falsifiable because it is possible that there is a white crow, even though none has been spotted yet.
Therefore, just like verifiability, falsifiability also acts as a deductive standard of evaluation of scientific theories and hypotheses. its purpose is to make the theory predictive and testable, and thus useful in practice.
The predictions about unobserved things based on previous observations is never totally certain. This is emphasized by the falsifiability criterion.
A theory that promises something to be absolute is non-scientific. Therefore, the falsifiability criterion can also be used to distinguish between science and non-science.
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