Q&A: Falsifiability
Falsifiability
Question
Hello
Is the fact that I don’t think any event could happen that would disprove my belief in God a deficiency?
(Alternatively: is there anything at all that, if it happened, would disprove the Rabbi’s belief?)
Answer
I do not think that any event could disprove belief in God. What might perhaps do so is an argument, not an event. Belief in God is not a scientific claim, and therefore it is not subject to falsification or verification.
Discussion on Answer
Not at all. If in principle it can be falsified, but it is presented in a way that makes it unfalsifiable, that is suspicious. If the claim itself is suspicious and also cannot be falsified, that is suspicious. But the mere fact that a claim cannot be falsified is not a problem.
If a person I trust tells me that he met so-and-so a moment before his death (and now it is impossible to check), there is no reason not to accept it.
What you think is one thing.
What will or will not actually happen is something else.
Seemingly, a theory that cannot be falsified—aside from the fact that it is not considered science—also seems to point to a weakness in the claim. There is an element of speculation in it, and that is true not only of scientific claims, no?