Is it possible for non-falsifiable objects or phenomena to exist?

ballarak December 18, 2017 at 14:06 3450 views 7 comments

Our modern method of interrogating reality depends on falsifiability via the scientific method. We take a claim, then check its validity via experimental data. This depends on the ability to A) test the claim, and B) reproduce the results of the experiment (including the ability for others to reproduce the results). Could we have phenomena in this universe that we couldn't reliably test and interrogate in manner? Phenomena that doesn't behave consistently or according to a set of physical laws?

Comments (7)

Galuchat December 18, 2017 at 14:41 #134726 0 likes

Reply to ballarak Reading your OP, I have criterial evidence that your mind exists, but I do not have empirical evidence that it exists. So, does your mind exist?

Mitchell December 18, 2017 at 16:12 #134739 0 likes

Not just my "knowledge" of your mind, but my knowledge of my own consciousness would seem to be "non-falsifiable. What would count as evidence against the claim, "I am aware of my pain"?

sime December 18, 2017 at 16:50 #134741 0 likes

A Logical Behaviourist would dispute that minds aren't observable. After all, we didn't learn the concept of 'other minds' by being shown the private contents of people's skulls or by psychically observing their souls in an ethereal realm. Ergo, our concepts of other minds are reducible to the behaviour we observe and our reactions to behaviour.

Ergo, the presence of other minds is falsifiable.

tom December 18, 2017 at 19:21 #134782 0 likes

No, it is not possible for non-falsifiable objects or phenomena to exist. Falsifiability applies only to theories: explanations that account for objects and phenomena.

Sam26 December 21, 2017 at 21:13 #135971 0 likes

Reply to Mitchell I would agree that knowledge of our own minds isn't falsifiable, but I would disagree that knowledge of someone else's mind isn't falsifiable. It's certainly logically possible, and probably metaphysically possible that other minds could turn out to be a very advanced computer simulation. Is it likely the case, of course not, but we're talking about what's possible.

Wayfarer December 21, 2017 at 22:01 #135992 0 likes

Quoting ballarak

Our modern method of interrogating reality depends on falsifiability via the scientific method.

Not reality: phenomena. Phenomena comprise the objects of experience, but reality includes the observer. And that is not a scientific statement, but a philosophical observation, so could not be falsified by empirical means.

Sam26 December 21, 2017 at 23:25 #136017 0 likes

Reply to tom I agree, falsifiability, as far as I know is only applied to arguments or theories. Moreover, not all arguments necessarily have to be falsifiable.