Karl Popper's Philosophy Of Science

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Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn’s View on Truth and Science
Science is the means of pursuing knowledge about the universe. It is collection of knowledge that is built on the testable predictions. Philosophy of science is a study concerned with fundamentals, techniques and consequences of science throughout time (The philosophy of science). There are several philosophers who tried to identify and differentiate between scientific and non-scientific theories throughout time using different philosophy. Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn are two of the most influential philosophers of science of the 20th century. Popper and Kuhn’s ideas on the scientific theories and research methods have provided scientists with a strong foundation to construct their pursuit
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Popper started by stating that, induction and empirical methods are the first step for identifying a scientific theory. Induction method involves generation of principles from particular facts whereas, empirical method involves generating idea based on experiments or an observation. Based on Popper’s beliefs, these two methods alone cannot differentiate between science and pseudo-science. So, Popper indicated that, the criteria for demarcation between science and Pseudo-science was an idea of falsifiability. Popper stated “One can sum up all this by saying that the criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability” (Popper, K. 1962). Popper’s view on scientific methods includes the proposal of theories or conjectures and attempting falsifications of these conjectures. Popper stated that scientists can formulate conjectures based on observations of the empirical data. Empirical data are obtained from experimental results. Those conjectures undergo investigations for refutation using experiments, and based on the data obtained, a conclusion is formulated. If the conjectures are …show more content…
Discoveries of new theories provide more rational and empirical information for scientific knowledge. Popper stated that, “I assert that continued growth is essential to the rational and empirical character of scientific knowledge; that if science ceases to grow it must lose that character” (Popper, K. 1962). Popper further described preferable theory as being higher in empirical content and refutable to more severe tests. Furthermore, Popper states that all science starts from problems not from observations. Scientific theory contributes to the growth of scientific knowledge by rising new problems. New problems leas to discovery of new information and that contributes to growth of knowledge. Popper illustrated his idea of verisimilitude. He stated that, theories that stand up to more precise tests and passes the test that other theories fail to pass are considered to be more truth like theories. Popper stated that, for theory to be classified as scientific and contribute towards growth of knowledge, it requires three basic foundations. First, “The new theory should proceed from simple, new, and powerful, unifying idea about some connection or relation between hitherto unconnected things or facts or new “ theoretical entities” (Popper, K. 1962). Second, “we require that the new theory should be independently testable”. Third, “We require that the theory should pass some new, and severe,

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