Editing Falsifiability (section)

===The definition of falsifiability===

Thornton says that basic statements are statements that correspond to particular "observation-reports". He then gives Popper's definition of falsifiability:
{{Blockquote | text= "A theory is scientific if and only if it divides the class of basic statements into the following two non-empty sub-classes: (a) the class of all those basic statements with which it is inconsistent, or which it prohibits—this is the class of its potential falsifiers (i.e., those statements which, if true, falsify the whole theory), and (b) the class of those basic statements with which it is consistent, or which it permits (i.e., those statements which, if true, corroborate it, or bear it out)."| author= Thornton, Stephen | source = {{harvnb|Thornton|2016|loc= at the end of section 3}} }}

As in the case of actual falsifiers, decisions must be taken by scientists to accept a logical structure and its associated empirical basis, but these are usually part of a background knowledge that scientists have in common and, often, no discussion is even necessary.<ref name="nodiscussionneededforbasicstatements" group=upper-alpha/> The first decision described by Lakatos{{sfn|Lakatos|1978|p=22}} is implicit in this agreement, but the other decisions are not needed. This agreement, if one can speak of agreement when there is not even a discussion, exists only in principle. This is where the distinction between the logical and methodological sides of science becomes important. When an actual falsifier is proposed, the technology used is considered in detail and, as described in section {{slink||Dogmatic falsificationism}}, an actual agreement is needed. This may require using a deeper empirical basis,<ref name="nosolidgrown" group="upper-alpha"/> hidden within the current empirical basis, to make sure that the properties or values used in the falsifier were obtained correctly ({{harvnb|Andersson|2016}} gives some examples).

Popper says that despite the fact that the empirical basis can be shaky, more comparable to a swamp than to solid ground,<ref name="nosolidgrown" group="upper-alpha"/> the definition that is given above is simply the formalization of a natural requirement on scientific theories, without which the whole logical process of science<ref name="fourlinesoftesting" group=upper-alpha/> would not be possible.