falsificationism

E69412

epistemological doctrine philosophy of science scientific methodology theory of scientific rationality

Falsificationism is a philosophy of science, chiefly associated with Karl Popper, which holds that scientific theories can never be conclusively verified but can and should be rigorously tested and potentially refuted by empirical evidence.

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All labels observed (4)

Label	Occurrences
critical rationalism	5
Karl Popper's falsificationism	1
falsificationism canonical	1
theory of falsifiability	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T554800 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: falsificationism
Context triple: [Karl Popper, knownFor, falsificationism]

A. logical positivism
Logical positivism is a 20th-century philosophical movement that emphasizes the verification of statements through empirical observation and logical analysis, rejecting metaphysics as cognitively meaningless.
B. Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science
Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science is a classic skeptical book by Martin Gardner that critically examines pseudoscience, fringe theories, and popular scientific misconceptions.
C. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a landmark 1962 book by philosopher Thomas S. Kuhn that introduced the concept of paradigm shifts to explain how scientific fields undergo periodic, transformative changes rather than progressing through a steady accumulation of knowledge.
D. Empiricism
Empiricism is a philosophical doctrine that holds that all or most human knowledge arises from sensory experience rather than innate ideas or pure reason.
E. Karl Popper
Karl Popper was a 20th-century philosopher of science best known for his theory of falsifiability as the demarcation criterion between science and non-science.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: falsificationism
Target entity description: Falsificationism is a philosophy of science, chiefly associated with Karl Popper, which holds that scientific theories can never be conclusively verified but can and should be rigorously tested and potentially refuted by empirical evidence.

A. logical positivism
Logical positivism is a 20th-century philosophical movement that emphasizes the verification of statements through empirical observation and logical analysis, rejecting metaphysics as cognitively meaningless.
B. Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science
Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science is a classic skeptical book by Martin Gardner that critically examines pseudoscience, fringe theories, and popular scientific misconceptions.
C. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a landmark 1962 book by philosopher Thomas S. Kuhn that introduced the concept of paradigm shifts to explain how scientific fields undergo periodic, transformative changes rather than progressing through a steady accumulation of knowledge.
D. Empiricism
Empiricism is a philosophical doctrine that holds that all or most human knowledge arises from sensory experience rather than innate ideas or pure reason.
E. Karl Popper
Karl Popper was a 20th-century philosopher of science best known for his theory of falsifiability as the demarcation criterion between science and non-science.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	epistemological doctrine ⓘ philosophy of science ⓘ scientific methodology ⓘ theory of scientific rationality ⓘ
addresses	problem of induction ⓘ scientific progress ⓘ
aimsAt	increasing verisimilitude of theories ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	critical rationalism ⓘ
articulatedIn	Conjectures and Refutations ⓘ The Logic of Scientific Discovery ⓘ
associatedWith	Karl Popper ⓘ
contrastsWith	confirmation holism ⓘ inductivism ⓘ
coreClaim	scientific theories can be refuted by empirical evidence ⓘ scientific theories can never be conclusively verified ⓘ scientific theories should be subjected to rigorous tests ⓘ the mark of a scientific theory is falsifiability ⓘ
criterionFor	demarcation between science and non-science ⓘ
criticizedBy	Imre Lakatos ⓘ Paul Feyerabend ⓘ Thomas Kuhn ⓘ
developedBy	Karl Popper ⓘ
developedIn	20th century ⓘ
emphasizes	conjectures and refutations ⓘ refutation over verification ⓘ severe testing of hypotheses ⓘ
holdsThat	a single counter-instance can falsify a universal law ⓘ no amount of positive instances can conclusively confirm a universal law ⓘ
implies	scientific knowledge is provisional ⓘ scientific theories are conjectural ⓘ
influenced	methodology of modern science ⓘ philosophy of scientific practice ⓘ
influencedBy	Albert Einstein ⓘ David Hume ⓘ
normativeClaim	scientists should try to refute rather than confirm their theories ⓘ
opposes	logical positivism ⓘ verificationism ⓘ
relatedTo	fallibilism ⓘ hypothetico-deductive method ⓘ scientific realism ⓘ
requires	openness to refutation ⓘ potentially falsifying observations ⓘ testable predictions ⓘ
supports	methodological skepticism ⓘ rational criticism of theories ⓘ
usedIn	experimental design ⓘ hypothesis testing ⓘ
viewOnTheories	theories are accepted tentatively until falsified ⓘ

How these facts were elicited