Question

Let's start with an example from history. Listed below are a series of claims regarding United States President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963). Classify each statement according to whether or not it is falsifiable.

a)Kennedy's death was the will of Godb)The murder of John F. Kennedy was an act of evilc) If he'd lived, Kennedy would have ended the Vietnam Ward)Kennedy's murder was orchestrated by an undetectable shadow government of the United States

Answer 1

The both of the falsifiable claims in this example happen to be true. The claim about Kennedy being the 35th President is falsifiable because it can be checked against historical records. The claim that Kennedy died from a bullet in his brain is falsifiable because it could have been shown false by the medical examiner. the remaining claims are not falsifiable: Statements that call on any type of supernatural being are by definition out of the realm of science. Similarly, a claim of something being "undetectable" could not be falsified and a claim about what Kennedy would have done if he had lived is a conjecture that cannot be disproved.