Michael Ruse

Since much of the debate between Darwinists and creationists hinges on whether either can claim to be "scientific," it is naturally important to understand precisely what makes a theory scientific. Everyone agrees, of course, that scientific theories are somehow tested by experience, whether by personal observations or by carefully controlled laboratory studies. However, no single experience or group of experiences is enough to prove a general theory true. For this reason, the philosopher Karl Popper proposed that scientific theories are never proved true by experience, but only proved false. One consequence of Popper's view is a widely accepted criterion for what it means for a theory to be "scientific." According to Popper, a scientific theory must be "falsifiable"- that is, capable of being proven false (without actually being proven false). Curiously neither creationism nor the theory...