What is this type of theory called?

I know that there's a specific term for this, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is.

When you propose a theory for a phenomenon, people will try to disprove your idea. If they're successful, then you can either drop your theory all together, or make modifications to account for others' criticisms.

There's a problem when you change your theory too much though, so that it's too... something. So, for example, when somebody would show Freud a behaviour that he didn't have a defence mechanism for, he would just invent a new defence mechanism, which makes his theory of defence mechanisms a... something or other theory.

Does anybody know what I'm trying to get at?

In the context of the scientific method a hypothesis is a testable explanation for an observation or set of observations. A statement which appears to be a hypothesis but is constructed in such a way that it cannot be "dis-proven" (because of ambiguity in its syntax, for example) is non-falsifiable.

Thanks for the reply mmmmmm_PIE, but that isn't really what I was looking for.

I didn't word the question particularly well, but there's a specific term for what I was trying to get at. Still can't remember what it is though, or where I read it.

Maybe you're thinking of a proposition?

As in a word that means that the theory is too changed after all the accounting-for-criticisms, that its not really the original theory at all, and there's really not much more point in going on defending it?

I know this doesn't work much but you could try putting a few terms in here:
http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml
its a reverse dictionary. I'll try first...
Hm... is it "obsolete"?
Outmoded, redundant, Superannuated.
That's the best I could get.

A patchwork theory? An overcompensated theory?

..... Theorem?

..... maybe

~ Adhamh.

Modified theory? A conjecture?

I dunno.

Falsification? Karl Poppers theory on credibility to a scientific thesis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability.

That is the only one I can think of, although mmmmm_PIE has already mentioned it.

The scientific method, perhaps?

hypothesis.

Originally Posted by Yami

hypothesis.

I concur, that sounds like what you're getting. Either that, or a controlled experiment, though that is a part of the experimental process, not so much the theory part.

No, hypothesis doesn't seem to match.

What's being asked about is an adjective that can be used to describe the process of defending a hypothesis by making it unfalsifiable.


I'm stumped, since the only term I know of was proposed months ago by mmmmm_PIE, namely non-falsifiable or unfalsifiable.