Description

This article is from the Scientific Skepticism FAQ, by Paul Johnson Paul@treetop.demon.co.uk with numerous contributions by others.

1.3: Can science ever really prove anything?

Yes and no. It depends on what you mean by "prove".

For instance, there is little doubt that an object thrown into the air
will come back down (ignoring spacecraft for the moment). One could
make a scientific observation that "Things fall down". I am about to
throw a stone into the air. I use my observation of past events to
predict that the stone will come back down. Wow - it did!

But next time I throw a stone, it might not come down. It might
hover, or go shooting off upwards. So not even this simple fact has
been really proved. But you would have to be very perverse to claim
that the next thrown stone will not come back down. So for ordinary
everyday use, we can say that the theory is true.

You can think of facts and theories (not just scientific ones, but
ordinary everyday ones) as being on a scale of certainty, from
certainly false to certainly true. Up at the top end we have facts
like "things fall down". Down at the bottom we have "the Earth is
flat". In the middle we have "I will die of heart disease". Some
scientific theories are nearer the top than others, but none of them
ever actually reach it. Skepticism is usually directed at claims that
contradict facts and theories that are very near the top of the scale.
If you want to discuss ideas nearer the middle of the scale (that is,
things about which there is real debate in the scientific community)
then you would be better off asking on the appropriate specialist
group.

 

Continue to:

• prev: 1.2: What is the difference between a fact, a theory and a hypothesis?
• Index
• next: 1.4: If scientific theories keep changing, where is the Truth?

Share and Enjoy

Tags

science, engineering, scientific skepticism, skeptics, Conspiracy Theory