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Set Alcoholics Anonymous

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Set Alcoholics Anonymous
Do you know how to spot an argument or theoretical position which ignores the principle of falsifyability?

Can you give me an example of a statment that ignores this principle?

My peer recently asserted that alcoholics anonymous “is the best treatment for alcohol abuse”.
I feel that the flipant statement is invalid as a fact because a) it is an opinionated statement sans any supportive evidence, and b) due to the nature of the statement, it is not falsifiable lest we establish a shared understanding of what the “best” is supposed to be (i,e. highest success rate, most used, most sought, etc.) inorder to be proven or refuted.

Is any argument that lacks a set of general truths to be considered in violation of the principle of falsifiability?

As a member of AA I can tell you why your friend made that statement. It is not dependent on God, or how many people have been helped, or how many people leave AA and get drunk again.

It has to do with the quality of life found as a member of AA. I am atheist, therefore the God part isn’t my concern. I have not gone back to drinking because what I get from AA is what all the “old timers” in the program will tell you: they tried other things, they were in and out of substance abuse programs many times, they tried staying sober on their own—but something about AA makes the quality of life of life better for those who “get it.” Those who “get it” are the ones who learn from it even if they are atheists; who learn from it even if they come to AA drunk every day for 2 years (which one of our “old timers” did until he finally “got it”,) and because it is their “opinion” that the evidence is the “proof that is in the pudding.”

That proof is self-evident to them, after trying everything else without success. Believe me from someone who has been there, it was not a flippant statement. I went to AA because I knew if it worked for others it could work for me.

Some statements do not need to be falsifiable. Some only need to be opinions, especially if those opinions are “justified true beliefs,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justified_true_belief. And many of us have plenty of justification for saying Alcoholics Anonymous “is the best treatment for alcohol abuse”.