Karl Popper's Falsifiability: A Conjecture That Cannot Be Wrong Says Nothing
Falsifiability is Karl Popper's test: a theory is scientific only if observation could contradict it. He used astrology as a system that cannot be wrong.
Results for "falsifiability"
What is pseudoscience, and why is drawing the line between science and pseudoscience far harder than it looks
What is pseudoscience? A look at the definition, Popper's demarcation criterion, critiques from Duhem, Quine and Kuhn, and the practical stakes involved.
How to recognize a pseudoscientific advertisement: the criteria of philosophy of science, applied to 'energy', 'vibration', 'quantum'
No single test identifies pseudoscience. Philosophy of science uses a cluster of criteria, applied here to 'energy', 'vibration' and 'quantum'.
Critical Thinking Before a Claim: Five Questions to Ask and the Most Common Logical Fallacies
Before a claim, split it into statement, reason, and evidence, then ask five questions. Common errors include confirmation bias and sunk cost.
Confirmation Bias: Why We Remember the Fortuneteller's Hits and Forget Every Miss
Confirmation bias explains why we remember a fortune teller's hits and forget the misses, plus its mechanisms and self checks.
Do Two People Born at the Same Time Share the Same Fate? What the London 'Time Twins' Study Says
The 1958 London 'time twins' study tracked over two thousand people born minutes apart and found none of the similarity Western astrology predicts for them.
No Scientific Basis Does Not Mean Worthless: Reading Folk Belief as Cultural Heritage Rather Than as a Truth Claim
Folk belief is not science, but that does not make it worthless. The right way to read it is as cultural heritage, a symbolic language of community.
Is Finding a Partner Through Kinh Dịch, Tarot, or Tử Vi Reliable? A View from Origins and Evidence
Can Kinh Dịch, Tarot, or Tử Vi truly find you a partner? This analysis weighs their origins, reading methods, and experimental evidence so you can decide.
Can Life Path Numbers Predict Who Succeeds? A Numerology Test on Nobel Laureates
A numerology test on 806 Nobel laureates found birth-number distribution no different from chance. Why does numerology still sound true to so many people?
Is Astrology Science or Superstition: The Wrong Question, and the Question Worth Asking Instead
Astrology is not science in the modern empirical sense, yet calling it pure superstition ignores its roots in Yin-Yang, the Five Elements and the I Ching.