verisimilitude.”
verisimilitude /ˌvərəsəˈmiləˌt(y)o͞od/ I. noun the appearance of being true or real • the detail gives the novel some verisimilitude. II. derivatives verisimilar /ˌverəˈsim(y)ələr / adjective – origin early 17th cent.: from Latin verisimilitudo, from verisimilis ‘probable,’ from veri (genitive of verus ‘true’) + similis ‘like.’
In philosophy, verisimilitude (or truthlikeness) is the notion that some propositions are closer to being true than other propositions. The problem of verisimilitude is the problem of articulating what it takes for one false theory to be closer to the truth than another false theory.[1]
This problem was central to the philosophy of Karl Popper, largely because Popper was among the first to affirm that truth is the aim of scientific inquiry while acknowledging that most of the greatest scientific theories in the history of science are, strictly speaking, false. If this long string of purportedly false theories is to constitute progress with respect to the goal of truth, then it must be at least possible for one false theory to be closer to the truth than others.
