The big idea
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A method, not an inventory
Science is a way of asking questions that lets reality disagree with you.
Scientific Thinking · Lesson 1
What Is Science?
beginner⏱ 16 min · 7 cards
Key term
The sharpest test
What makes a claim scientific?
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Falsifiability
Some possible observation would show it to be wrong. A claim that forbids nothing can never be tested.
Try it
Testable or Not?
“This supplement supports your natural balance.”
Could any observation count against this claim?
Untestable is not the same as false — only outside what evidence can settle.
Sort claims by whether any observation could count against them.
Nuance
Careful
Common misconception
Unfalsifiable does not mean false. Ethics and meaning matter enormously and sit outside what evidence settles.
Vienna, 1847
Testable, and still resisted
Semmelweis found that handwashing in chlorine sharply reduced deaths from childbed fever.
The claim was testable and it passed. It was rejected for years anyway — science corrects error through human institutions, at their pace.
Quick check
What single question best tests whether a claim is scientific?
You did it
Nice work
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