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Testable but not falsifiable?
Author(s) -
Crother Brian I.,
Murray Christopher M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
cladistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.323
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1096-0031
pISSN - 0748-3007
DOI - 10.1111/cla.12102
Subject(s) - falsifiability , character (mathematics) , biology , phylogenetic tree , epistemology , evolutionary biology , mathematics , philosophy , genetics , geometry , gene
We are puzzled by a recent comment that suggested that historical hypotheses can be tested but are unfalsifiable. We argue that phylogenetic hypotheses are falsifiable without the aid of a time machine and that they are like any other hypothesis: they are tentative knowledge propositions capable of falsification with character evidence.
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