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In
commenting on the relationship of evidence and theory in the study
of
history, Karl Popper wrote that
although
facts are collected with an eye upon the theory, and will confirm
it as
long as the theory stands up to these tests, they are more than
merely
a kind of empty repetition of a preconceived theory. They confirm
the
theory only if they are the results of unsuccessful attempts to
overthrow its predictions, and therefore a
telling testimony in its favor.
So it
is, I hold, the possibility of overthrowing it, or its falsifiability,
that constitutes the possibilit y of
testing it, and therefore the scientific
character
of a theory; and the fact that all tests of a theory are attempted
falsifications
of predictions derived with its help, furnishes the
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(quoted in David Henige, Niumbers From Nowhere.)
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