Popper — Risky tests rather than piles of confirmations
The question that opens it
Does what a theory forbids matter more than the number of observations that seem to support it?
- 1
Popper argues that finite observations cannot verify a universal theory, while empirical science requires claims exposed to possible counterinstances.
Check the evidence
This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.
Karl Popper
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Locator: §2.3 Demarcation and §2.4 Basic Statements and Falsifiability
Open source
- 2
Because real tests involve auxiliary assumptions, measurement error, and statistical judgment, the slogan that one observation automatically discards one theory oversimplifies both Popper and later debate.
Check the evidence
This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.
Karl Popper
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Locator: §3.1–§3.3, corroboration, conventionalist stratagems, and methodology
Open source