Authors :
Rameez Ali Khan
Volume/Issue :
Volume 10 - 2025, Issue 12 - December
Google Scholar :
https://tinyurl.com/54w9p92u
Scribd :
https://tinyurl.com/3jc86btf
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/25dec1470
Note : A published paper may take 4-5 working days from the publication date to appear in PlumX Metrics, Semantic Scholar, and ResearchGate.
Abstract :
Scientific verification often lags behind theoretical prediction, raising fundamental questions about when and how
phenomena become provable. This paper proposes the Principle of Conditional Provability (PCP), which asserts that an event
can be verified only when the constraints limiting its detection—both intrinsic (inherent to the event) and extrinsic
(technological, methodological, or theoretical)—are sufficiently reduced. Conditional proofs are therefore context-
dependent subsets of an idealized absolute proof, and the timing or absence of verification reflects epistemic and practical
limitations rather than the non-existence of phenomena. Historical examples, including gravitational waves, exoplanets, the
Higgs boson, and Helicobacter pylori, illustrate how constraint accessibility governs the appearance of proof. PCP
complements existing frameworks such as Popperian falsifiability, Lakatosian research programs, and Bayesian inference
by explicitly linking proof to the interplay of constraints, offering a predictive lens for frontier science. This principle
formalizes the contingent and dynamic nature of scientific verification, clarifying methodology, guiding experimental design,
and reframing non-detection as a reflection of accessibility rather than absence.
Keywords :
Conditional Provability; Intrinsic Constraints; Extrinsic Constraints; Scientific Methodology; Proof and Verification; Absolute Proof; Epistemic Accessibility.
References :
- Einstein, A. (1916). The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity.
- Popper, K. (1959). The Logic of Scientific Discovery.
- Kuhn, T. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
- Lakatos, I. (1978). The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes.
- Abbott, B. P. et al. (2016). Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger.
Scientific verification often lags behind theoretical prediction, raising fundamental questions about when and how
phenomena become provable. This paper proposes the Principle of Conditional Provability (PCP), which asserts that an event
can be verified only when the constraints limiting its detection—both intrinsic (inherent to the event) and extrinsic
(technological, methodological, or theoretical)—are sufficiently reduced. Conditional proofs are therefore context-
dependent subsets of an idealized absolute proof, and the timing or absence of verification reflects epistemic and practical
limitations rather than the non-existence of phenomena. Historical examples, including gravitational waves, exoplanets, the
Higgs boson, and Helicobacter pylori, illustrate how constraint accessibility governs the appearance of proof. PCP
complements existing frameworks such as Popperian falsifiability, Lakatosian research programs, and Bayesian inference
by explicitly linking proof to the interplay of constraints, offering a predictive lens for frontier science. This principle
formalizes the contingent and dynamic nature of scientific verification, clarifying methodology, guiding experimental design,
and reframing non-detection as a reflection of accessibility rather than absence.
Keywords :
Conditional Provability; Intrinsic Constraints; Extrinsic Constraints; Scientific Methodology; Proof and Verification; Absolute Proof; Epistemic Accessibility.
