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Re: orion Analysis of an unfalsifiable theory
Thank you, Asia, for this clear, brief, and appropriate restatement of the
core problem.
All the best,
Sigrid Peterson University of Pennsylvania petersig@ccat.sas.upenn.edu
According to Asia Lerner:
>
[...]
>
> Lets imagine a hypothetical situation: I have five manuscripts, four of
> which are dated by C14 to 10th century, while the fifth is dated by the
> same method to 12th century. However, I have a theory about the origin and
> meaning of these manuscripts which will work only if they all date to
> tenth century. I also know that some of the manuscripts might have been
> subjected to a process that makes parchment register later in C14
> tests.
>
> Now, the question is : how acceptable is it for me to assume that the 12th
> century manuscript is not evidence that falsifies my theory, but is a
> tenth century manuscript that underwent treatment?
>
> First off, its clearly acceptable if the process leaves detectable traces
> in the manuscripts, and if I detect those traces in the 12th century
> manuscript, and determine their absence in the 10th century ones.
>
> However, what if all I have is the general notion that such process could
> have taken take place in some manuscripts ? (I understand this to be the
> situation with the castor oil supposition, and am willing to be corrected)
>
> Well, it might still be acceptable to use this as a "corrective" for the
> problematic evidence if I am a run of the mill humanist historian
> who thinks that a historian's job is to construct plausible accounts of
> the past. After all, the discovery of the problematic process does make my
> assertion about 10th century origins more plausible.
>
> On the other hand, if I happen to be a Popperian, I should notice that this
> explanation makes it quite impossible to use C14 to distinguish between
> two opposing situations:
>
> a) The case in which the 12th century manuscript underwent
> treatment, and actually dates from the tenth century.
>
> b) The case in which the 12th century manuscript is precisely what
> it seems: a 12th century manuscript.
>
> In terms of my theory, the C14 evidence for both of these cases will look
> the same.
>
> Explanatory mechanisms that make it impossible to distinguish between a
> state and its opposite are precisely what Popper criticized as "unfalsifiable
> theories". I personnaly have nothing against them (in moderation), but than I
> make no claims to follow Popper.
>
>
> Best regards, Asia Lerner
>