Showing posts with label Karl Popper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karl Popper. Show all posts

Oct 23, 2015

Scientific Proof Isn't

There is no such thing as scientific proof. Scientific evidence is evidence which serves to either support or counter a scientific theory or hypothesis.


Proof is incompatible with science which, by its nature should be provisional and self-correcting. Karl Popper (generally regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of science in the 20th century) once wrote that "In the empirical sciences, which alone can furnish us with information about the world we live in, proofs do not occur, if we mean by 'proof' an argument which establishes once and for ever the truth of a theory." Only Math has proofs.