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In this comic, [[Miss Lenhart]] teaches to a class consisting of [[Hairy]], [[Ponytail]], and [[Jill]] about {{w|Karl Popper}}. Karl Popper was a philosopher of science who endorsed the idea that science is distinguished from non-science by treating its theories as falsifiable. This means that science does not treat any theory as definitive, because future research could show that it is false.
 
In this comic, [[Miss Lenhart]] teaches to a class consisting of [[Hairy]], [[Ponytail]], and [[Jill]] about {{w|Karl Popper}}. Karl Popper was a philosopher of science who endorsed the idea that science is distinguished from non-science by treating its theories as falsifiable. This means that science does not treat any theory as definitive, because future research could show that it is false.
  
A not uncommon reading of Popper assumes that instead of proving hypotheses, scientists are disproving hypotheses. This reading leads to technicalities like the ones stated in the comic: Instead of asserting that Popper was indeed born on July 28, 1902, and grew up in Vienna, a scientist can only assert that there is no evidence disproving these facts, which seems counter-intuitive because one cannot disprove the facts of Popper's birthdate and childhood residence.
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A not uncommon reading of Popper assumes that instead of proving hypotheses, scientists are disproving hypotheses. This reading leads to technicalities like the ones stated in the comic: Instead of asserting that Popper was indeed born on July 28, 1902, and grew up in Vienna, a scientist can only assert that there is no evidence disproving these facts, a fact that is weird simply because one cannot disprove the fact that Popper was born on July 28 or where did he lived.
  
 
Note however that falsifiability is often interpreted to mean that there has to be a way to disprove a given statement if it is wrong, or to distinguish between two mutually competing hypotheses – not that a statement is accepted solely due to the lack of evidence to the contrary. For example, a birth certificate is often used to establish a date of birth and falsifying that date of birth would then mean calling into question the birth certificate's authenticity or accuracy, but without any historical records of the date of birth one would normally not even speculate at all about the precise date of birth. Such reasoning solely on the absence of proof to the contrary would be considered unusual in most contexts.
 
Note however that falsifiability is often interpreted to mean that there has to be a way to disprove a given statement if it is wrong, or to distinguish between two mutually competing hypotheses – not that a statement is accepted solely due to the lack of evidence to the contrary. For example, a birth certificate is often used to establish a date of birth and falsifying that date of birth would then mean calling into question the birth certificate's authenticity or accuracy, but without any historical records of the date of birth one would normally not even speculate at all about the precise date of birth. Such reasoning solely on the absence of proof to the contrary would be considered unusual in most contexts.

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