Karl Popper

Question 1

Karl Popper -> Basics

Answer 1

1902-1994
- philosopher who had most influence to present day
- assistant of Alfred Adler
- central idea of his demarcation: dispose of main idea that the gauge of how scientific theory is, is the degree of how much it is supported by empirical observations

Question 2

Why did popper want to dispose of it (empirical observations being fundamental)

Answer 2

• observations are too weak of an argument
  (- Marxist’s can find supporting evidence everywhere)
  Nothing contradicts theories, everything supports it
• too easy to find good supporting evidence

Question 3

Good theory according to popper

Answer 3

• infomative and doesn’t allow things to happen that we did before
• the less plausible it is the better
• risky statements
• falsifiable

Question 4

When should we reject a theory

Answer 4

• a theory might be scientific to some but not to others
• a theory isn’t rejected just because of one wrong result
• modified not rejected

Question 5

Other criteria for theories

Answer 5

• chemistry grew out of alchemy
• science uses analogies aswell

Question 6

Do we know if a theory is true or not

Answer 6

• popper said we don’t need at least 1 of something (not falsifiable)
• we can never prove a theory, we can just say we can’t disprove it
• a theory that survived testing is science (popper)