INTORDUCTION Karl Popper was a philosopher who introduced the idea of conjecture and refutation as a method for conducting scientific inquiry. In the first section I explore Poppers idea of falsification. Popper’s scientific Progression deals with his method of scientific progress while fallacies in Popper’s Perceptions deals with the problems that arise from his theory. Finally I evaluate Popper’s legacy, many scientist still hold Popper’s idea in high esteem even after other ideas emerged. While Popper championed skepticism in scientific theories, there are problems with his theory that led to the rise of other ideas.
FALSIFICATION
Karl Popper was a philosopher of science who developed the idea of falsification. In An Introduction to Science …show more content…
Sismondo points out some major flaws with Popper’s falsification theory, “Scientific theories are generally fairly abstract, and few make hard predictions without adopting a whole host of extra assumptions” (Sismondo, 4). As we saw before, Popper believed that theories had to have the possibility of being falsifiable but Sismondo points out that some are too abstract to test. These theories do not have the possibility of being falsifiable because they do not state a specific outcome. One can also point out that certain theories cannot be proven or falsified because we may not have the ability to test it. Modern theories concerning black holes cannot be falsified because we cannot observe a black hole from a close distance. Popper would claim that some of these theories are pseudo-science because it cannot be falsified. If the ability to test a theory does not exist it does not mean that the idea is not scientific but if there is no way to test it then it cannot be a real scientific theory. Sismondo also says that some theories assume that certain conditions are true in order to test out their theory. In these instances, Popper’s theory of falsification would fail because the assumed conditions are not being tested but they are necessary in order to test a theory. Falsification does not take into account the complexity of a theory but it also …show more content…
Scientists still praise Popper because of his belief that scientific theories should be constantly tested. All theories are tested and the results are analyzed by the scientific community in order to determine whether the results can be trusted or not. Some scientists believe that theories can never truly be proven but testing is necessary in order to differentiate between incorrect theories and theories that do a better job at explaining physical phenomena. According to some, a theory cannot explain the truth behind phenomena but it can highlight a
FALSIFICATION
Karl Popper was a philosopher of science who developed the idea of falsification. In An Introduction to Science …show more content…
Sismondo points out some major flaws with Popper’s falsification theory, “Scientific theories are generally fairly abstract, and few make hard predictions without adopting a whole host of extra assumptions” (Sismondo, 4). As we saw before, Popper believed that theories had to have the possibility of being falsifiable but Sismondo points out that some are too abstract to test. These theories do not have the possibility of being falsifiable because they do not state a specific outcome. One can also point out that certain theories cannot be proven or falsified because we may not have the ability to test it. Modern theories concerning black holes cannot be falsified because we cannot observe a black hole from a close distance. Popper would claim that some of these theories are pseudo-science because it cannot be falsified. If the ability to test a theory does not exist it does not mean that the idea is not scientific but if there is no way to test it then it cannot be a real scientific theory. Sismondo also says that some theories assume that certain conditions are true in order to test out their theory. In these instances, Popper’s theory of falsification would fail because the assumed conditions are not being tested but they are necessary in order to test a theory. Falsification does not take into account the complexity of a theory but it also …show more content…
Scientists still praise Popper because of his belief that scientific theories should be constantly tested. All theories are tested and the results are analyzed by the scientific community in order to determine whether the results can be trusted or not. Some scientists believe that theories can never truly be proven but testing is necessary in order to differentiate between incorrect theories and theories that do a better job at explaining physical phenomena. According to some, a theory cannot explain the truth behind phenomena but it can highlight a