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The Idea That a Scientific Theory Can Be ‘Falsified’ Is a Myth

scientificamerican.com

2 points by power 5 years ago · 1 comment

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raxxorrax 5 years ago

I would actually have expected more to such a topic. Science was often brought forward not by consensus of available theories and instead by people that went beyond established knowledge. The reference to vaccines, evolution and climate change can induce instant coma by now, even if you agree with the author, which isn't that unlikely.

Falsification is about the futility of elevating an idea to general truth if it cannot be tested. It is not about giving up a thought by the first sign of a contradiction. I am not sure how a contradiction manifests for gravity in the periapsis of Merkur or the Moon, but it is probably solved by today or the exception proves the rule.

We don't need to abandon anything if it wasn't correctly parsed in the first place.

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