Popper and Falsificationism Flashcards
Who is Karl Popper?
Austrian philosopher (1902-1994)
Concerned with the “problem of demarcation”.
Does not focus on the actual labelling of science vs. non-science, but the criteria behind it.
Opponent to logical positivism and inductive reasoning.
Praises falsification and deductive reasoning.
What do the terms ‘logical’ and ‘positivism’ stand for in logical positivism?
Logical: Follows formal symbolic logic. The logical positivists tried to create a formal (logical) language to express scientific statements.
Positivism: To be positive that something is true, empirically verified.
How do logical positivists distinguish meaningful statements from nonsense?
Meaningful statements are either
1) definitions that are necessarily true (e.g. a triangle has three sides).
2) verifiable empirical statements (i.e. about the world) that are meaningful if they life up to verification criterion.
Thus, unverifiable statements are metaphysical nonsense.
Who is the grandfather of logical positivism?
Bertrand Russel (1872-1970)
What was logical positivism a counter reaction to?
German philosophy that appeared pompous, difficult and obscure.
What is the principle of induction?
From singular events (single ravens) to universal statements/theories (all ravens).
Aims at determining the truth of scientific theories.
The truth of universal statements is ‘known by experience’, i.e. observation/result of experiment.
Truth of universal statements reduced to truth of singular events.
Who originally proposed the problem of induction?
The Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776).
What is the problem of induction?
- Inductive inferences cannot be justified: No matter how many singular events the universal statements is based on, the conclusion is not justified because it can turn out to be false any time.
- The regress problem: The attempt to base inductive reasoning on experience breaks down, since it leads to infinite regress. Any statement can be infinitely questioned.
What is meant by inductive inferences being ‘probable inferences’?
Proposed by German philosopher Hans Reichenbach (1891-1953), logical positivist, a founder of Berlin Circle.
Scientific statements cannot reach either truth or falsity, but only degrees of probability where the upper and lower limits are truth and falsity.
What is Popper’s definition of the demarcation problem?
The problem of finding a criterion that enables us to distinguish between empirical sciences and mathematics, logic and metaphysical systems.
When was logical positivism influential from?
From the 1920s
What are the four methods to test a theory according to the deductive model?
- Logical comparisons of conclusions.
- Investigate logical form of theory. Is it an empirical or scientific theory or is it tautological?
- Comparison with other theories.
- Testing a theory, e.g. experiments or applications.
What is the solution to the demarcation problem according to inductive reasoning?
Verification principle.
All statements must be able to be verified as true/falsity (i.e. conclusively decidable).
What is the logical positivists solution to the demarcation problem?
Distinguishing meaningful statements (science) from nonsense statements (non-science).
What was Karl Popper’s view on induction?
Induction does not exist. Can never be able to justify whether a theory is true, but you can justify whether a theory is false by finding weaknesses of theories from observations. Though, theories still aim at truth. Several theories compete as explanations, and we must choose between them.
What is the Vienna Circle?
- A philosophical movement during the 20th century in Vienna.
- A group of scientists and philosophers met to discuss current major scientific revolutions and their implications (especially Einstein’s work).
- Led by Moritz Schlick, a German philosopher and physicist.
- Formulated the logical positivism approach.
What is the logical positivism approach?
- A counter reaction to German philosophy.
- Sort meaningful statements from meanings-less nonsense.
- Use induction as method.
What does the verification criterion contain?
A specification of the steps that verify whether a statement is true.
What are operational definitions?
- Definitions of concepts that are based on the procedures used to determine the concept’s presence and quantity.
- It is described in terms of independent and/or dependent variables.
- Observable and measurable events.
- Used in behaviourism.
- E.g. intelligence and score on IQ-test.
What happened to the Vienna Circle during the Second World War?
- Many Jewish intellectuals, including members of Vienna Circle sought refuge in USA.
- Went from being a minority philosophical group in Europe to being the dominant force in American philosophy around 1960.
What is the core feature of Popper’s philosophy?
Fallibilism: We may be wrong in anything we believe. Popper denied that the goal of science is certainty.
Falsificationism: you need to be able to falsify your statements in order for it to be scientific.
Deductive reasoning
What was David Hume’s view on induction?
The Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) was strongly opponent to inductive reasoning.
Induction is never justified. No matter how many observations / experiences, they can never lead to generalisations with certainty. The probability is not even increased.
E.g. experiencing multiple swans being white does not mean that all swans are certainly white.
What are the two problems that logical positivists had in determining whether a sentence was verifiable?
- The problem of how to verify statements about specific individual observable properties, e.g. “Emma the swan is white”. Solved by direct observation.
- The problem of generalisations, e.g. “All swans are white”. Solved by induction.
What method did Karl Popper use?
Falsificationism
Critical discussion: Find weaknesses in a theory or argument. Could be through observations. Asking questions such as “Under what conditions would I admit my theory to be false?
The aim is not to preserve a theory but to improve it.
The method of critical discussion is suggested to have been established by Thales in ancient Greece. Died in the West because an intolerant Christianity suppressed it, but arose again in the Renaissance and modern science.
