Two meanings of falsifiability editor1 first H. editor1 last Seiffert editor2 first G. editor2 ... statements that can come in conflict with observation and those that cannot. Popper chose falsifiability ... if they cannot be verified or falsified, Popper claimed that falsifiability is merely a special case ... to falsifiability, and thus rationality, may be comprehensive i.e., have no logical limits , though this claim is controversial even among proponents of Popper s philosophy and critical rationalism. Falsifiability ... of both sides claim that Popper developed falsifiability to denote ideas as unscientific or pseudoscientific ..., or at least some of them, or at least in some form, may be legitimately called science. Falsifiability ... in the 1930s, Popper gave falsifiability a renewed emphasis as a criterion of empirical statements .... Thus, Popper urged that verifiability be replaced with falsifiability as the criterion ... of Scientific Discovery , section 6, footnote 3 ref Use in courts of law Falsifiability was one of the criteria ... Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont criticized falsifiability on the grounds that it does not accurately ..., not because of the failures of other theories. Their discussion of Popper, falsifiability and the philosophy ... that falsifiability cannot distinguish between astrology and astronomy, as both make technical predictions ... and falsifiability have been used to criticize various controversial views. Examining these examples shows the usefulness of falsifiability by showing us where to look when attempting to criticise ... of these types of theories is necessarily incorrect . Popper considered falsifiability a test of whether ... of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability. Karl Popper ... Falsifiability sk Falzifik cia fi Falsifiointi sv Falsifierbarhet uk zh ... more details
Na ve empiricism is a term used in several ways in different fields. In the philosophy of science , it is used by opponents to describe the position, associated with some logical positivist s, that immediate sense experience is by itself sufficient to provide the foundations for knowledge . ref cite book author Thomas Ernst Uebel title Overcoming Logical Positivism from Within The Emergence of Neurath s Naturalism in the Vienna Circle s Protocol Sentence Debate pages 205 year 1992 publisher Rodopi ref The term also is used to describe a particular methodology for literary analysis . ref cite book author Michael McKeon title The Origins of the English novel pages 105 109 year 1986 publisher Johns Hopkins University Press ref See also Empiricism Falsifiability especially, Falsifiability Na.C3.AFve falsification Na ve falsification References reflist DEFAULTSORT Naive Empiricism Category Empiricism Category Epistemological theories Category Metatheory of science epistemology stub ... more details
In philosophy , a razor is a device which allows one to shave away unlikely explanations for a phenomenon. ref See http wordsmith.org words ockhams razor.html Occam s razor at A.Word.A.Day ref Famous razors include Occam s razor when faced with competing hypotheses, select the one that makes the fewest assumptions Falsifiability Popper s falsifiability principle a theory can only be scientific if it is falsifiable Newton s flaming laser sword what cannot be settled by experiment is not worth debating Hanlon s razor assume incompetence over malice Some philosophers have proposed anti razors . Examples include Principle of plenitude See also Occam s razor Variations Variations of Occam s razor Razor References reflist philosophy stub Category Critical thinking ... more details
Wiktionary Falsification may refer to The act of disproving a proposition, hypothesis, or theory see Falsifiability Mathematical proof Falsified evidence Falsification of history, distortion of the historical record also known as Historical revisionism negationism cpuinfo falsification , a lowest common denominator technique to provide backwards compatibility in computing Forgery , the act of producing something that lacks authenticity with the intent to commit fraud or deception Self falsification, e.g., the Liar s paradox disambiguation de Falsifikation lt Falsifikacija ja ru ... more details
Orphan date November 2006 Unreferenced date February 2009 Notability date December 2011 A term coined by Karl Popper in his famous work The Logic of Scientific Discovery to denote what he regarded as the main problem of methodology and the philosophy of science , i.e. to explain and promote the further growth of scientific knowledge. To this purpose, Popper advocated his theory of falsifiability , testability and testing. See also Falsification DEFAULTSORT Growth Of Knowledge philosophy stub Category Philosophy of science Category Knowledge ... more details
Unreferenced date February 2007 About the closed circle argument books titled The Closed Circle The Closed Circle disambiguation For the concept in detective fiction, see closed circle of suspects . A closed circle argument is one that is falsifiability unfalsifiable . Psychoanalytic theory, for example, is held up by the proponents of Karl Popper as an example of an ideology rather than a science . A patient regarded by his psychoanalyst as in denial about his sexual orientation may be viewed as confirming he is homosexual simply by denying that he is and if he has sex with women, he may be accused of trying to buttress his denials. In other words, there is no way the patient could convincingly demonstrate his heterosexuality to his analyst. This is an example of what Popper called a closed circle The proposition that the patient is homosexual is not falsifiable. Closed circle theory is sometimes used to denote a relativism relativist , anti realism anti realist philosophy of science, such that different groups may have different self consistent truth claims about the natural world. philosophy stub Category Philosophical arguments Category Philosophy of science sv Cirkelresonemang ... more details
Unreferenced date August 2007 Portal Software Testing Testability , a property applying to an empirical hypothesis , involves two components 1 the logical property that is variously described as contingency , defeasibility, or falsifiability , which means that counterexample s to the hypothesis are logically possible, and 2 the practical feasibility of observing a reproducibility reproducible series of such counterexamples if they do exist. In short, a hypothesis is testable if there is some real hope of deciding whether it is true or false of real experience. Upon this property of its constituent hypotheses rests the ability to decide whether a theory can be supported or falsified by the data of actual experience. If hypotheses are tested, initial results may also be labeled inconclusive. In engineering, this refers to the capability of an equipment or system to be tested. See also Confirmability Contingency controllability observability Scientific method Software testability Further reading Karl Popper Popper, K. R. 1968 The Logic of Scientific Discovery . London Hutchinson. Category Logic Category Philosophy of science Category Scientific terminology fr Testabilit nl Toetsbaarheid pt Testabilidade sv Testbarhet ... more details
The Parable of the Invisible Gardener is a tale told by Antony Flew , in response to John Wisdom John Wisdom s argument of how people can view the same thing and hold different religious views. It is often used to illustrate the perceived differences between assertions based on faith and assertions based on scientific evidence , and the problems associated with falsifiability unfalsifiable beliefs. The tale runs as follows blockquote Two people return to their long neglected garden and find, among the weeds, that a few of the old plants are surprisingly vigorous. One says to the other, It must be that a gardener has been coming and doing something about these weeds. The other disagrees and an argument ensues. They pitch their tents and set a watch. No gardener is ever seen. The believer wonders if there is an invisible gardener, so they patrol with bloodhounds but the bloodhounds never give a cry. Yet the believer remains unconvinced, and insists that the gardener is invisible, has no scent and gives no sound. The skeptic doesn t agree, and asks how a so called invisible, intangible, elusive gardener differs from an imaginary gardener, or even no gardener at all. blockquote References Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 1944 5, reprinted as Chap. X of Antony Flew, ed., Essays in Logic and Language, First Series Blackwell, 1951 , and in Wisdom s own Philosophy and Psychoanalysis Blackwell, 1953 . Philosophy and Psychoanalysis Blackwell, 1953 Philosophy of Religion Pojman, 1998 Category Philosophical arguments ... more details
Infobox Book name The Logic of Scientific Discovery title orig Logik der Forschung translator image image caption author Karl Popper illustrator cover artist Dibakar Das country language German language German series subject Philosophy of science genre publisher Mohr Siebeck pub date 1934 english pub date 1959 media type pages isbn ISBN 3 16 148410 X oclc 62448100 preceded by followed by The Logic of Scientific Discovery is a 1934 book by Karl Popper . It was originally written in German language German and titled Logik der Forschung . Then Popper reformulated his book in English language English and republished it in 1959. This forms the rare case of a major work to appear in two languages, both written and one translated by the author instead of being translated by another person. Sir Peter Medawar called it one of the most important documents of the twentieth century. ref cite web url http www.amazon.com logic scientific discovery Raimund Popper dp product description B0007EIGGY title The Logic of Scientific Discovery Editorial Reviews accessdate 2007 09 08 ref In it, Popper argued that science should adopt a methodology based on falsifiability , because no number of experiments can ever prove a theory, but a single experiment can contradict one. Popper holds that empirical theories are characterized by falsifiability. The German version is currently in print by Mohr Siebeck ISBN 3 16 148410 X , the English one by Routledge publishers ISBN 0 415 27844 9 . Notes Reflist External links http www.routledge.com popper works logic discovery.html English version publisher s web site http www.mohr.de German version publisher s web site http books.google.com books?id Yq6xeupNStMC&dq The Logic of Scientific Discovery&source gbs navlinks s Limited preview of the book with a table of contents , Google Books DEFAULTSORT Logic Of Scientific Discovery, The Category 1934 books Logik der Forschung, Die Category 1959 books Category Analytic philosophy literature Category Philosoph ... more details
Merge to Verificationism discuss Talk Verificationism Merger proposal date September 2011 Unreferenced stub auto yes date December 2009 The verification theory of meaning is a Philosophy philosophical theory proposed by the Logical Positivism logical positivists of the Vienna Circle . A simplified form of the theory states that a proposition s meaning is determined by the method through which it is Empiricism empirically verified. In other words, if something cannot be empirically verified, it is meaningless. For example, the statement It is raining is meaningless unless there is a way whereby one could, in principle, verify whether or not it is in fact raining. The theory has radical consequences for traditional philosophy as it, if correct, would render much of past philosophical work meaningless, for example metaphysics and ethics. It is important to note that the theory is meant to be applied only to synthetic claims i.e. claims about the world , rather than analytical ones. The statement of the theory itself was taken by Ayer to be an analytic claim. See also Fields of study and principles Epistemology The philosophical study of knowledge and belief Falsifiability The possibility that an assertion may be disproved Logical Positivism A philosophical school espousing verificationism Philosophy of science Verification principle That meaningful statements should be analytic, verifiable or falsifiable Schools and individuals A.J. Ayer 1910 1986 A British logical positivist Moritz Schlick 1882 1936 The German founding father of logical positivism Vienna Circle The group around Moritz Schlick at Vienna University from 1922 Philosophy of language Philosophy topics DEFAULTSORT Verification Theory Category Theories of language Category Epistemological theories Category Logical positivism Category Vienna Circle epistemology stub da Verifikationisme fr Th orie v rificationniste de la signification nl Verificatiebeginsel fi Verifikationistinen merkitysteoria ... more details
POV check date May 2010 A just so story , also called the ad hoc fallacy , is a term used in academic anthropology , biology biological sciences , social science s, and philosophy . It describes an unverifiable and Falsifiability unfalsifiable narrative explanation for a culture cultural practice, a biological trait, or behavior of humans or other animals. The use of the term is an implicit criticism that reminds the hearer of the essentially fictional and unprovable nature of such an explanation. Such tales are common in folklore and mythology where they are known as etiological myths &mdash see etiology Historical etiology . This phrase was popularized by the publication in 1902 of Rudyard Kipling s Just So Stories , containing fictional and deliberately fanciful tales for children, in which the stories pretend to explain animal characteristics, such as the origin of the spots on the leopard. ref http www.4literature.net Rudyard Kipling How the Leopard got his Spots Rudyard Kipling, How the Leopard got his Spots in JUST SO STORIES FOR LITTLE CHILDREN, 1902 ref Some hypotheses that have been labeled as just so stories by critics do indeed have some empirical support. ref Segerstrale, Ullica 2000 . Defenders of the Truth The Battle for Science in the Sociobiology Debate and Beyond . Oxford Oxford University Press. ref ref Alcock, John 2001 . The Triumph of Sociobiology . Oxford Oxford University Press. ref See also Factoid Pourquoi story References Reflist vocab stub Category Logic Category Evolutionary biology Category Figures of speech Category Anthropology Category Social sciences Category Evolutionary psychology fr Just so story ... more details
Unreferenced date July 2007 Psychological nominalism is the view advanced in Wilfrid Sellars paper Empiricism and Philosophy of Mind EPM that explains psychological concepts in terms of public language use. Sellars describes psychological nominalism as the view that all awareness of sorts, resemblances, facts, etc., in short, all awareness is a linguistic affair. Judging solely from the mention in EPM, Psychological Nominalism would seem to be a form of Verbal Behaviorism, which holds that ascriptions of psychological states are definitionally equivalent to predictions about behavior. For example, the verbal behavior Verbal Behaviorist holds that a statement like John is scared of thunderstorms is meaningful only insofar as it can be parsed into predictions concerning the sorts of things John is likely to say and or do in the event of a thunderstom i.e. John will say, or have a propensity to say, I am scared when he hears thunder or John will hide, or have a propensity to hide, his face when he sees lightning . Psychological Nominalism extends the Verbal Behaviorist s explanation of psychological states like fear, love, desire, thinking etc. to cognitive states being aware, knowing, etc. while denying the premise that falsifiability criteria can give statements their meaning. The Psychological Nominalist concedes that survival of mental terminology in natural language can be explained in terms of the practical utility of mental state ascriptions, but denies that this constitutes an analysis of the meaning of any particular mental state ascription because the Psychological Nominalist contends that the meaning of any term, mental or otherwise, is irreducibly bound with its usage. Thus, the Verbal Behaviorist fails to give a completely philosophically satisfying account of psychological statements because he fails to recognize that the linguistic statements are themselves meaningful in light of the kinds of behavior associated with them. Category Epistemological theori ... more details
Refimprove date January 2009 Conjectures and Refutations The Growth of Scientific Knowledge is a book written by philosopher Karl Popper . Published in 1963 by Routledge , ref Karl R. Popper, Conjectures and Refutations The Growth of Scientific Knowledge , Routledge, 2003 ISBN 0415285941 ref this book is a collection of his lectures and papers that summarised his thoughts on the philosophy of science . Popper suggested that all scientific theories are by nature conjectures and inherently fallible, and that refutation to old theory is the paramount process of scientific discovery. Should any new theory survive more of such refutations, it would have a higher verisimilitude and therefore, Popper concluded, closer to truth. Conjectures and Refutations is one of Karl Popper s most wide ranging and popular works, notable not only for its acute insight into the way scientific knowledge grows, but also for applying those insights to politics and to history. It provides one of the clearest and most accessible statements of the fundamental idea that guided his work not only our knowledge, but our aims and our standards, grow through an unending process of trial and error. Popper demonstrates how knowledge grows by guesses or conjectures and tentative solutions, which must then be subjected to critical tests. Although they may survive any number of tests, our conjectures remain conjectures, they can never be established as true. What makes Conjectures and Refutations such an enduring book is that Popper goes on to apply this bold theory of the growth of knowledge to a fascinating range of important problems, including the role of tradition, the origin of the scientific method, the demarcation between science and metaphysics, the body mind problem, the way we use language, how we understand history, and the dangers of public opinion. Throughout the book, Popper stresses the importance of our ability to learn from our mistakes. See also Falsifiability Instrumentalism Notes and ... more details
In spiritualism , paranormal literature, and some religion s, materialization also referred to as manifestation is the creation or appearance of matter from unknown sources. It is the transformation of something abstract or virtual into something concrete and tangible. The existence of materialization would contradict the generally accepted law of conservation of energy . History Accounts of materialization in Christianity include the biblical story of the multiplication of bread and fish by Jesus to feed a hungry crowd John 6 1 15 & Mark 6 35 44 and Genesis where everything came out of nothing. Contemporary Indian guru s Sathya Sai Baba and Swami Premananda claim to perform materializations and spontaneous vibuthi holy ash manifestations are reported by Baba s followers on his pictures at their homes and once in diwali a festival of hindus he transformed water into oil for lighting fire lamps diva . ref http www.saibabamiracles.com Sathya Sai Baba Miracles depicting photos of miracles associated with Sai Baba ref ref Mick Brown journalist Mick Brown The Miracle In North London. In The Spiritual Tourist. A Personal Odyssey Through the Outer Reaches of Belief. 1998, ISBN 1 58234 034 X, pp. 29 30 ref ref Prinella Pillay http www.thepost.co.za index.php?fSectionId 154&fArticleId 375687 Divine blessing It s a miracle, says family . In Post South African newspaper , 17 March 2004 ref ref The Sunday Times South Africa http farshores.org psai.htm House of Miracles . 24 March 2002 ref Scientific views The existence of materialization was not confirmed by laboratory experiments. Confirmation would Falsifiability falsify the generally accepted law of conservation of energy . A theoretical description of materialization phenomena is possible with the theory of stochastic process stochastic processes a simple mathematical description is the Fokker Planck equation extended Fokker Planck equation . Literature Nandor Fodor http www.victorzammit.com articles materialization.htm Mat ... more details
Unreferenced date December 2009 A false premise is an incorrect proposition that forms the basis of a logical syllogism . Since the premise proposition, or assumption is not correct, the conclusion drawn may be in error. However, the validity logical validity of an argument is a function of its internal consistency, not the truth value of its premises. For example, consider this syllogism, which involves an obvious false premise If the streets are wet, it has rained recently. premise The streets are wet. premise Therefore it has rained recently. conclusion This argument is logically valid, but quite demonstrably wrong, because its first premise is false one could hose down the streets, the local river could have flooded, etc. A simple deductive system logical analysis will not reveal the error in this argument, since that analysis must accept the truth of the argument s premises. For this reason, an argument based on false premises can be much more difficult to falsifiability refute , or even discuss, than one featuring a normal logical error, as the truth of its premises must be established to the satisfaction of all parties. Another feature of an argument based on false premises that can bedevil critics, is that its conclusion can in fact be true. Consider the above example again. It may well be that it has recently rained, and that the streets are wet. This of course does nothing to prove the first premise, but can make its claims more difficult to refute. This underlies the basic epistemology epistemological problem of establishing causal relationships . A false premise can also be a premise that is poorly or incompletely defined so as to make the conclusion questionable. The following joke from Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar illustrates the point blockquote An old cowboy goes into a bar and orders a drink. As he sits there sipping his whiskey, a young lady sits down next to him. ... She says, I m a lesbian. I spend my whole day thinking about women. ... A ... more details
William Ray Overton September 19, 1939 &ndash July 14, 1987 was a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas . Overton was born in Malvern, Arkansas . He received a Bachelor of Science B.S. Bachelor of Arts B.A. from the University of Arkansas in 1961, and an LL.B. from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1964. He was in private practice of law in Little Rock, Arkansas from 1964 to 1979. Overton was nominated to the district court by President Jimmy Carter on March 7, 1979, to a new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 10, 1979, and received his commission on May 11, 1979. Overton continued to serve on that court until his death in 1987. He is known for his ruling on Act 590 The Arkansas Balanced Treatment Act in McLean v. Arkansas , which was a law seeking to require the teaching of Creation Science in classrooms. This statute was advocated by its supporters as providing equal treatment of creation science as the Theory of Evolution in the science classrooms. When Judge Overton struck down the Act in 1982, he used the criteria that a scientific theory must be tentative and always subject to revision or abandonment in light of the facts that are inconsistent with, or falsify, the theory. A theory that is by its own terms dogmatic, absolutist and never subject to revision is not a scientific theory. In summary, he held that a scientific theory to be taught in schools must have the following properties It is guided by natural law It has to be explained by reference to natural law It is testable against the empirical world Its conclusions are tentative, i.e., are not necessarily the final word It is Falsifiability falsifiable . Sources FJC Bio 1819 Metadata see Wikipedia Persondata Persondata NAME Overton, William Ray ALTERNATIVE NAMES SHORT DESCRIPTION United States federal judge DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1939 PLACE OF BIRTH Malvern, Arkansas DATE OF DEATH July 14, 1987 PLACE OF DEATH c ... more details
The Neogrammarians also Young Grammarians , German Junggrammatiker were a Germany German school of linguistics linguists , originally at the University of Leipzig , in the late 19th century who proposed the Neogrammarian hypothesis of the regularity of sound change . According to this hypothesis, a historical linguistics diachronic sound change affects simultaneously all words in which its environment is met, without exception. Verner s law is a famous example of the Neogrammarian hypothesis, as it resolved an apparent exception to Grimm s law . The Neogrammarian hypothesis was the first hypothesis of sound change to attempt to follow the principle of falsifiability according to scientific method . Today this hypothesis is considered more of a guiding principle than an exceptionless fact, as numerous examples of lexical diffusion where a sound change affects only a few words at first and then gradually spreads to other words have been attested. Other contributions of the Neogrammarians to general linguistics were The object of linguistic investigation is not the language system, but rather the idiolect , that is, language as it is localized in the individual, and therefore is directly observable. Autonomy of the sound level being the most observable aspect of language, the sound level is seen as the most important level of description, and absolute autonomy of the sound level from syntax and semantics is assumed. Historicism the chief goal of linguistic investigation is the description of the language change historical change of a language. Analogy if the premise of the inviolability of sound laws fails, analogy can be applied as an explanation if plausible. Thus, exceptions are understood to be a regular adaptation to a related form. Leading Neogrammarian linguists included Otto Behaghel Wilhelm Braune Karl Brugmann Berthold Delbr ck August Leskien Adolf Noreen Hermann Osthoff Hermann Paul Eduard Sievers Karl Verner Despite their strong influence in their time, the ... more details
unreferenced date March 2010 Why because analysis WBA is a method for accident analysis . It is independent of application domain and has been used to analyse, among others, aviation , railway , marine and computer related accidents and incidents. It is mainly used as an after the fact or a posteriori analysis method. WBA strives to ensure objectivity, falsifiability and reproducibility of results. The result of a WBA is a why because graph WBG . The WBG depicts causal relation s between factors of an accident. It is a directed acyclic graph where the nodes of the graph are factors. Directed edges denote Causality cause effect Relation mathematics relations between the factors. WBA in detail WBA starts with the question what the accident s in question is are . In most cases this is easy to define. Next comes an iterative process to determine causes. When causes for the accident have been identified, formal tests are applied to all potential cause effect relations. This process can be iterated for the new found causes, and so on, until a satisfactory result has been achieved. At each node factor , each contributing cause related factor must have been necessary, and the totality of causes must be sufficient it gives the causes, the whole causes sufficient , and nothing but the causes necessary . The formal tests The counterfactual test CT The CT leads back to David Kellogg Lewis David Lewis formal notion of causality and counterfactual s. The CT asks the following question If the cause had not been, could the effect have happened . The CT proves or disproves that a cause is a necessary causal factor for an effect. Only if it is necessary for the cause in question then it is clearly contributing to the effect. The causal sufficiency test The CST asks the question Will an effect always happen if all attributed causes happen? . The CST aims at deciding whether a set of causes are sufficient for an effect to happen. The missing of causes can thus be identified. Only if fo ... more details
Explanatory power is the ability of a theory to effectively explain the subject matter it pertains to. One theory is sometimes said to have more explanatory power than another theory about the same subject matter if it offers greater predictive power . That is, if it offers more details about what we should expect to see, and what we should not. Explanatory power may also suggest that more details of causal relations are provided, or that more facts are accounted for. Scientist David Deutsch adds that a good theory is not just predictive and falsifiable i.e. testable a good explanation also provides specific details which fit together so tightly that it is difficult to change one detail without affecting the whole theory. The opposite of explanatory power is explanatory impotence . Overview File Carbon cycle cute diagram.svg thumb right Deutsch says that the truth consists of detailed and hard to vary assertions about reality Physicist David Deutsch offers a criterion for a good explanation that he says may be just as important to scientific progress as learning to reject argument from authority appeals to authority , and adopting formal empiricism and falsifiability . To Deutsch, these aspects of a good explanation, and more, are contained in any theory that is specific and hard to vary . He believes that this criterion helps eliminate bad explanations which continuously add Ad hoc hypotheses justifications , and can otherwise avoid ever being truly falsified. ref name DeutschTED http www.ted.com talks david deutsch a new way to explain explanation.html David Deutsch, A new way of explaining explanation ref Deutsch takes examples from Greek mythology. He describes how very specific, and even somewhat falsifiable theories were provided to explain how Demeter the gods sadness caused the seasons. Alternatively, Deutsch points out, one could have just as easily explained the seasons as resulting from the gods happiness making it a bad explanation, since it is so easy t ... more details
otheruses An argument that appears to be scientific is said to be not even wrong if it cannot be falsifiability falsified i.e., tested with the possibility of being rejected by experiment or cannot be used to make predictions about the natural world . The phrase was coined by theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli , who was known for his colorful objections to incorrect or sloppy thinking. ref cite journal author Shermer M authorlink Michael Shermer title Wronger Than Wrong journal Scientific American year 2006 pages url http www.sciam.com article.cfm?id wronger than wrong ref Rudolf Peierls writes that a friend showed Pauli the paper of a young physicist which he suspected was not of great value but on which he wanted Pauli s views. Pauli remarked sadly, It is not even wrong. ref cite journal author Peierls, R. title Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, 1900 1958 journal Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society volume 5 issue page 186 year 1960 doi 10.1098 rsbm.1960.0014 ref blockquote The phrase implies that even a wrong argument would have been better than the argument proposed, because an argument can only be found wrong after meeting the criteria for a scientific hypothesis . Arguments that are not even wrong do not meet these criteria. The phrase not even wrong is often used to describe pseudoscience or bad science and is considered derogatory. ref cite news url http www.guardian.co.uk g2 story 0,3604,1573072,00.html title Not even wrong publisher The Guardian date September 19, 2005 author Oliver Burkeman authorlink Oliver Burkeman ref Not even wrong has also been used, notably by Peter Woit , to mean proposed scientific theories that are well meaning and based on current scientific knowledge, but can neither be used for prediction nor falsified. He has applied the phrase to aspects of the super string theory of physics on the grounds that, although mathematically elegant , it does not currently provide predictions or tests. ref Woit, Peter, Not Even Wrong The Failure ... more details
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