up:: Tags:: #🌿 #💡 # Falsifiability Karl Popper wrote “A theory is part of empirical science if and only if it conflicts with possible experiences and is therefore in principle falsifiable by experience.” If you can’t prove something wrong, you can’t really prove it right either. Science advances not through proving things right but through proving things wrong. According to popper there were only two types of theories: 1. Theories that are known to be wrong, as they were tested and adequately rejected (he calls them falsified). 2. Theories that have not yet been known to be wrong, not falsified yet, but are exposed to be proved wrong. Why is a theory never right? Because we will never know if all the swans are white. [[Absence of evidence doesn't mean evidence of absence]]. Popper expanded this theory to advocate for the concept of open societies. Open societies are societies in which a permanent truth isn't held to exist. This allows counter ideas to emerge once old one's are deemed falsifiable. It can also be expanded upon to illuminate the difference between a closed and open mind. Open minds are minds which are open to information that contradicts their preconceived notions. Related: ___ # Resources