HPS100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Superstring Theory, Cherry Picking, Falsifiability
18 Nov 2016
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You can"t answer this question without being sensitive of the time period in which the question is being asked. Divination an insight into a question can be gained by means of reading signs and omens, or through contact with a supernatural agency. Some scientific theories are part of our contemporary scientific mosaic while other scientific theories are currently unaccepted. An empirical theory is scientific if it is based on experience. Question: is this a good explication of our implicit criteria of demarcation?^ Theory the appearance of a comet foreshadows disaster (e. g. famine, fire, war, plague). Diagnosis even this nonsensical theory is based on experience . Diagnosis based on experience is extremely vague, for it allows for cherry-picking only favorable evidence. An empirical theory is scientific if: it explains all the known facts of its domain. If we were to employ this criterion of demarcation, then many scientific theories would turn out to be unscientific.
