PPT Week 38

Question 1

What is Popper’s idea?

Answer 1

A proposition is scientific if it is falsifiable.

Proposition: swans are white (all A are B)

Verification is impossible - no matter how many swans you see
Falsification is possible - even with just one black swan

=> a general state can never be confirmed but it can be rejected. 100 observations cannot prove a general statement but 1 single observation can reject a statement

Scientific propositions are always provisional.
As soon as you make a general statement, you leave the ground of certainty

Question 2

Give an example of the logic of falsification

Answer 2

Positivists:

1. All swans are white
2. X is a swan
3. Therefore, X is white

Popper:
If 1 and 2 are true, then 3 is true
But if we realize that 1 is not true, the 3 is also not true

If 1 is true but 2 is false, then 3 is also false

Question 3

Science according to Popper

Answer 3

Scientific Theories are always provisional, never proven (the best we have so far)

The difference between science and non science is falsifiability (can be proven wrong but hasn’t been proven wrong yet)

Empirical tests are attempts towards to reject the theory, not to confirm it (I.e. looking for a black swan)

Question 4

Psychoanalysis according to popper

Answer 4

Largely pseudo science
Because Freud’s theories are generally unfalsifiable

Example: proposition - all boys are in love with their mother but suppress that
Is there a conceivable observation that would disprove this proposition

But: it might develop into science

Question 5

Quine’s version on falsification

Answer 5

The distinction between analytics and synthetic statements is not tenable

Any theory can be protected from observation

So falsification is impossible

All swans are black
What is swan? Can we redefine swan?

Question 6

Thomas Kuhn

Answer 6

Popper: how SHOULD science work?
Kuhn: how DOES science work? (More focused on sociology, less on abstract argument and logic)

Introduced the idea of paradigm: scientists work in a paradigm of assumptions, basic theories, methods and norms
Scientific revolution is overthrowing a paradigm
It rarely happens

Question 7

What is paradigms?

Answer 7

The structure within which scientists work together: assumptions, basic theories, methods, norms

Scientific revolutions: overthrowing paradigms

But usually scientists assume a lot of things that are assumed within their paradigms and build on that

Question 8

What is incommensurability?

Answer 8

Non measurable together

I.e. you can’t Compare 2 paradigm to each other because the criteria used to evaluate a paradigm are a part of that paradigm

As a result: there is no guarantee of scientific progress

(Science - anomaly - crisis - revolution (so part of the knowledge is thrown away)

Question 9

Duhem: falsification problem

Answer 9

A scientific theory doesn’t generate predictions on its own, it’s always in conjunction with other propositions and assumptions

You always test a bundle of propositions

And observation can be unreliable

I.e. when we see a black swan, we have to make sure it’s a swan
Do we disregard the observation or the theory?

Question 10

The cycle of science

Answer 10

Normal science (paradigm) - anomalies - crisis - revolution (paradigm shift)