HOW TO MAKE THEORIES UNTESTABLE: A GUIDE TO THEORISTS.

This article discusses two methods for making a sociological theory untestable. The term theory stands for the symbolic dimension of experience, as opposed to the apprehension of brute fact. However, not only do theories go beyond fact but they do so by virtue of their use of universal categories. Scientific theories are a special type of theory defined in terms of a set of normative criteria to which scientists seek to conform and in terms of which their theories are evaluated. Central among these is the principle that scientific theories should be empirical. That is, they should have an empirical referent and be capable of being tested by experience. Because scientific statements are universal and empirical observations are of particular events, if a theory is to be refutable there must be some agreement whereby theoretical statements can be linked to ordinary propositions about empirical particulars. The first method for making sociological theory untestable, that is for making it unscientific, make certain that no empirically refutable statements can be deduced from the theory. A second method for making theory untestable is to ensure that the theory is internally inconsistent. That is, to take steps to ensure that one's theory does not take form a deductive system where all the propositions of the theory can be deduced from a set of axioms.