Falsifiability

:This page discusses how a theory or assertion is "falsifiable" ("disprovable" opp: "verifiable"), rather than the non-philosophical use of "falsification", meaning "counterfeiting." The idea comes from the work of the philosophers Sir Karl Popper and Ernest Gellner.

Formal logical arguments

The falsification of theories occurs through modus tollens, via some observation. Suppose some theory T implies an observation O:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:T ightarrow O

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The required observation, however, is not made, therefore

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:sim O

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So by Modus Tollens,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:sim T

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~