Demarcation of Science: Falsification

Question 1

What is falsification based on?

Answer 1

The essence of Falsification is based on Popper’s belief that scientific statements are characterised by there being procedures that could show the statement to be false.
For non-scientific statements, there are no such procedures

Question 2

What is falsification? (Definition)

Answer 2

An observation that shows that a theory is false

Question 3

What is “falsified”? (Definition)

Answer 3

A state of a theory that has been shown to be false

Question 4

What is falsificationism? (Definition)

Answer 4

Popper’s claim that scientists are only interested in falsification

Question 5

What is a valid argument, according to Popper?

Answer 5

A valid argument, is an argument where the truth of the premises guarantee the truth of the conclusion.

Example:
Thus, observations, O, that conform to our theory, T, do not confirm the truth of T (Induction problem)
Though, observations, O, that do not conform to our theory, T, falsify T.

Question 6

What is the induction problem?

Answer 6

The induction problem uses past events to predict the future. We assume because we have seen O-observation MANY times in the past that it must also be true for all time in the future. However, simply because we have seen many black raven does it not mean that there doesn’t exist a white raven.

So, by having this observation observed we have good REASON to believe the theory to be true “All ravens are black”, but it cannot be completely true.

Question 7

How can the induction problem be disproved/solved/rejected by falsification?

Answer 7

We cannot conclude any truth by universal statements, as we can’t know whether if truth of conclusion doesn’t follow from the truth of premises. “All swans are white.” No matter how many white swans are observed, this statement can never be fully verified because there is always the possibility of encountering a non-white swan in the future.

HOWEVER according to falsification, if we do in fact witness a single white raven or black swan THEN that will disprove the entire statement of “all X are black/white”

Question 8

What is a deductive argument?

Answer 8

An argument in which the truth of the premises absolutely guarantees the truth of the conclusion

Question 9

What is an inductive argument?

Answer 9

An argument where the truth of the premises gives good reason to believe the conclusion, but does not absolutely guarantee the truth of the conclusion.

Question 10

What is Duhem’s thesis (Duhem-Quine thesis)?

Answer 10

According to this thesis, we never simply test one statement/theory, but always a group of them at the same time. It could very well be that our theory is wrong BUT it could also be that one of the auxiliary assumptions is wrong and is the cause of the failure rather than the theory in itself.

If T&A1, A2, A3 (etc.), then O
Not-O
==
∴ Not T, or not A1, A2 or A3 (etc.)

Question 11

Example of Duhem’s thesis in Cognitive science

Answer 11

In cognitive science: Theories of memory depend on theories of perception, which in turn depend on theories of sensation