Popper and Falsificationism

Question 1

Who is Karl Popper?

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

What do the terms ‘logical’ and ‘positivism’ stand for in logical positivism?

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

How do logical positivists distinguish meaningful statements from nonsense?

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

Who is the grandfather of logical positivism?

Answer 4

Bertrand Russel (1872-1970)

Question 5

What was logical positivism a counter reaction to?

Answer 5

German philosophy that appeared pompous, difficult and obscure.

Question 6

What is the principle of induction?

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

Who originally proposed the problem of induction?

Answer 7

The Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776).

Question 8

What is the problem of induction?

Answer 8

1. 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.
2. 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.

Question 9

What is meant by inductive inferences being ‘probable inferences’?

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

What is Popper’s definition of the demarcation problem?

Answer 10

The problem of finding a criterion that enables us to distinguish between empirical sciences and mathematics, logic and metaphysical systems.

Question 11

When was logical positivism influential from?

Answer 11

From the 1920s

Question 12

What are the four methods to test a theory according to the deductive model?

Answer 12

1. Logical comparisons of conclusions.
2. Investigate logical form of theory. Is it an empirical or scientific theory or is it tautological?
3. Comparison with other theories.
4. Testing a theory, e.g. experiments or applications.

Question 13

What is the solution to the demarcation problem according to inductive reasoning?

Answer 13

Verification principle.

All statements must be able to be verified as true/falsity (i.e. conclusively decidable).

Question 14

What is the logical positivists solution to the demarcation problem?

Answer 14

Distinguishing meaningful statements (science) from nonsense statements (non-science).

Question 14

What was Karl Popper’s view on induction?

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

What is the Vienna Circle?

Answer 15

• 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.

Question 16

What is the logical positivism approach?

Answer 16

• A counter reaction to German philosophy.
• Sort meaningful statements from meanings-less nonsense.
• Use induction as method.

Question 17

What does the verification criterion contain?

Answer 17

A specification of the steps that verify whether a statement is true.

Question 17

What are operational definitions?

Answer 17

• 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.

Question 17

What happened to the Vienna Circle during the Second World War?

Answer 17

• 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.

Question 17

What is the core feature of Popper’s philosophy?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

What was David Hume’s view on induction?

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

What are the two problems that logical positivists had in determining whether a sentence was verifiable?

Answer 19

1. The problem of how to verify statements about specific individual observable properties, e.g. “Emma the swan is white”. Solved by direct observation.
2. The problem of generalisations, e.g. “All swans are white”. Solved by induction.

Question 20

What method did Karl Popper use?

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

What is Popper’s thoughts on a scientific method?

Answer 21

A scientific method does not exist!
No method for discovering a scientific theory, no method of inferring a theory from ‘pure’ observation, no method of determining the truth of a theory, no method of verification, no method of determining whether a theory is probably true.

Question 22

Who is Hans Reichenbach?

Answer 22

• German philosopher
• 1891 - 1853
• Founded the Berlin Circle, a type of logical positivism.
• Moved to USA during Second World War because of Nazi racial laws.
• Illustrated the distinction between the context of discovery and the context of justification.

Question 23

What is a corroborated theory?

Answer 23

• A theory is corroborated when it has continuously passed attempts to falsify it.
• They are not true or proved, but instead corroborated.
• It is only corroborated temporarily until it is falsified.
• A corroborated theory is currently the best explanation for something.

Question 24

What are the two areas that Popper especially criticises?

Answer 24

Psychoanalysis and Marxism. They tend to ‘explain’ any behaviour by a person and does not seek observations that can criticise their explanations/theories. Avoids criticism.

Question 25

What is the scientific practice according to Popper?

Answer 25

1. State a theory: from simple, new and powerful ideas, and it should include some connection between things in the world.
2. Operationalize a theory: Define the theory. State which observations would follow from the theory, i.e. make predictions. The predictions should be independent and testable. You should be able to check the theories by observation.
3. Try to falsify and test your theory.

Question 26

Popper attended one of Einstein’s lectures in 1919. What impressed him?

Answer 26

Popper was impressed by the fact that Einstein was willing to put his theory on the line by specifying in advance what observations would falsify his theory.

Question 27

Who is the Hungarian philosopher Imre Lakatos (1922-1974)?

Answer 27

A philosopher strongly influenced by Popper.
Asked the following question to Marxists, ‘Tell me what specific social and historical events would have to occur for you to give up your Marxism?’

Question 28

According to Popper, where does almost all scientific theories originate from?

Answer 28

Almost all scientific theories originate from something like myths. But to become science, the myths should eventually generate empirical sciences wherever that is possible.

Question 29

What determines the degree of falsifiability in a theory?

Answer 29

A theory becomes more falsifiable by being
1) more precise (e.g. predicting a specific directional/numerical difference between conditions)
2) being broader (including more situations in which a theory applies).
Thus, there are more steps that are testable and thus there are more components that can be falsified by testing it.

Question 30

What is the Duhem-Quine problem?

Answer 30

When we find a falsification in a system/theory, how do we know which component of the system to reject? We can only falsify a system as a whole. Criticism to Popper’s view on falsification.