Science as a belief system

Falsification

In the above respect, the work of Sir Karl Popper, has been influential in the area of scientific methodology. Popper has argued that no form of scientific knowledge can ever be considered to be absolute - we can, in short, never be certain that a theory is true - only that it is not, as yet, "not false". Theories can be tested through observation and experiment.

In these terms, the best we can ever say is that the extent of our knowledge about the world can only be measured in terms of the extent to which a theory has withstood the test of refutation. That is, its robustness in terms of being able to withstand the attempts of other scientists to show the theory to be false. In practice, theories are eventually modified or overturned by new theories. As Popper famously said ‘science does not rest…’

Do Natural Scientists Do What They Claim To Do?

We have assumed that Natural scientists actually employ the methodological…