Scientific Theories should be Verifiable

• Carl Hempel came up with a more useful statement about the properties of scientific theories:

• "The statements constituting a scientific explanation must be capable of empirical test."

• - C. Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science 49 (1966).

• More explicitly: a theory is scientifically objective if it is both publicly verifiable and testable.

• Public Verification:

• Minimizes subjective misperception,

• Increases the probability of objective perception,

• Scientific theories must be verifiable in both a conceptual and an operational sense.