21. The Quack-Files: Karl Popper's Falsification Principle The most important philosopher of science since Francis Bacon (15611626), Sir karl popper finally solved the puzzle of scientific method, which in practice http://www.geocities.com/healthbase/falsification.html

Karl Popper's Falsification Principle I hope that this page will get you interested in studying this great man and his theories of science and politics. I have collected a number of quotes (*) from various sites with the links to those sites. Please visit them and read the quotes in their context. There you will also be made aware of many other aspects of Popper's work. All emphasis in the quotes below is my own. Sir Karl Popper (1902-94) Austrian (later British) scientific, social and political philosopher - particularly important for his understanding of science as progressing by the falsification of hypotheses. Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994) The most important philosopher of science since Francis Bacon (1561-1626), Sir Karl Popper finally solved the puzzle of scientific method, which in practice had never seemed to conform to the principles or logic described by Bacon. Instead of scientific knowledge being discovered and verified by way of inductive generalizations, leaping from data into blank minds, in terms that go back to Aristotle, Popper realized that science advances instead by deductive falsification through a process of "conjectures and refutations." http://www.friesian.com/popper.htm

22. Karl Popper Institute Devoted to the promotion, critical analysis and further development of popper s philosophy and world views. Site features information both on the http://www.univie.ac.at/science-archives/popper/

THE KARL POPPER INSTITUTE Please note the new URL of the Popper Institute: http://www.univie.ac.at/science-archives/popper/ Last update:10 Nov 2004 Up About the Institute Aims Scientific Advisory Board ... Home

23. The Problem Of Induction, By Sir Karl Popper Text of this key 1953 paper, in which popper presents the view of the scientific method as a critical, rather than inductive process. http://dieoff.org/page126.htm

Home Popper has argued (I think successfully) that a scientific idea can never be proven true, because because no matter how many observations seem to agree with it, it may still be wrong. On the other hand, a single contrary experiment can prove a theory forever false. The Problem of Induction (1953, 1974) For a brief formulation of the problem of induction we can turn to Born, who writes: '. . . no observation or experiment, however extended, can give more than a finite number of repetitions'; therefore, 'the statement of a law - B depends on A - always transcends experience. Yet this kind of statement is made everywhere and all the time, and sometimes from scanty material. ' 1 In other words, the logical problem of induction arises from (1) Hume's discovery (so well expressed by Born) that it is impossible to justify a law by observation or experiment, since it 'transcends experience'; (2) the fact that science proposes and uses laws 'everywhere and all the time'. (Like Hume, Born is struck by the 'scanty material', i.e. the few observed instances upon which the law may be based.) To this we have to add (3) the principle of empiricism which asserts that in science only observation and experiment may decide upon the acceptance or rejection of scientific statements, including laws and theories. These three principles, (1), (2), and (3), appear at first sight to clash; and this apparent clash constitutes the logical problem of induction.

24. Objective Knowledge By Karl Popper Lecture by karl popper included in his major work, Objective Knowledge, in which he sums up his epistemological views. http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/at/popper.htm

Karl Popper (1966) Objective Knowledge A Realist View of Logic, Physics, and History (1966) Source Objective Knowledge (1972) publ. Clarendon Press. The second last chapter is reproduced here. Thus, we have not made our world. So far we have not even changed it much, compared with the changes achieved by animals and plants. Yet we have created a new kind of product or artefact which promises in time to work changes in our corner of the world as great as those worked by our predecessors, the oxygen-producing plants, or the island-building corals. These new products, which are decidedly of our own making, are our myths, our ideas, and especially our scientific theories: theories about the world we live in. I suggest that we may look upon these myths, these ideas and theories, as some of the most characteristic products of human activity. Like tools, they are organs evolving outside our skins. They are exosomatic artefacts. Thus we may count among these characteristic products especially what is called 'human knowledge'; where we take the word 'knowledge' in the objective or impersonal sense, in which it may be said to be contained in a book; or stored in a library; or taught in a university. When referring to human knowledge, I shall usually have this objective sense of the word 'knowledge' in mind. This allows us to think of knowledge produced by men as analogous to the honey produced by bees: the honey is made by bees, stored by bees, and consumed by bees; and the individual bee which consumes honey will not, in general, consume only the bit it has produced itself: honey is also consumed by the drones which have not produced any at all (not to mention that stored treasure of honey which the bees may lose to bears or beekeepers). It is also interesting to note that, in order to keep up its powers to produce more honey, each working bee has to consume honey, some of it usually produced by other bees.

25. Sir Karl Popper --  Britannica Online Encyclopedia Britannica online encyclopedia article on Sir karl popper Austrianborn British philosopher of natural and social science who subscribed to antideterminist http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9060854/Sir-Karl-Popper

var britAdCategory = "history"; Already a member? LOGIN Encyclopædia Britannica - the Online Encyclopedia Home Blog Advocacy Board ... Free Trial Britannica Online Content Related to this Topic This Article's Table of Contents Sir Karl Popper Print this Table of Contents Linked Articles Vienna Circle Shopping New! Britannica Book of the Year The Ultimate Review of 2007. 2007 Britannica Encyclopedia Set (32-Volume Set) Revised, updated, and still unrivaled. New! Britannica 2008 Ultimate DVD/CD-ROM The world's premier software reference source. Sir Karl Popper Page 1 of 1 born July 28, 1902, Vienna, Austria died Sept. 17, 1994, Croydon, Greater London, Eng. in full Karl Raimund Popper Austrian-born British philosopher of natural and social science who subscribed to antideterminist metaphysics, believing that knowledge evolves from experience of the mind. Although his first book, Logik der Forschung The Logic of Scientific Discovery ), was published by the Vienna Circle Popper, Sir Karl... (75 of 292 words) To read the full article, activate your FREE Trial

26. Discovering Karl Popper, By Peter Singer Article in The New York Review of Books (May 2, 1974). http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/by/19740502.htm

Discovering Karl Popper Peter Singer The New York Review of Books , vol. 21, no. 7 (May 2, 1974) Bryan Magee's clear little introduction to the thought of Karl Popper opens with the remark that Popper's name is not yet a household word among educated people. The remainder of the book is an attempt to remedy this allegedly undeserved neglect. The educated reader might think that Popper has received adequate recognition. After all, Popper, an Austrian schoolteacher who left his native land in 1937 in anticipation of Nazi annexation, gained a world-wide reputation in 1945 with the publication of The Open Society and Its Enemies . Later, at the London School of Economics, he became Professor of Logic and Scientific method. He has now been a leading figure in the philosophy of science for many years; his Logic of Scientific Discovery , a translation of a work he had already published before he left Austria, must now be a part of almost every philosophy of science course in the English-speaking world. In 1965 Popper became Sir Karl, and this year the Danish government chose him, at the age of seventy-one, for its Sonning Prize, previously awarded to figures like Bertrand Russell and Sir Winston Churchill, and worth around $45,000. Now, the publication of

27. Karl Popper Translate this page karl popper e il falsificazionismo. Una delle migliori introduzioni al pensiero di karl popper. Massimo Baldini, Introduzione a popper, Armando, Roma, http://www.ildiogene.it/EncyPages/Ency=Popper.html

KARL R. POPPER VITA Karl Raimund Popper (Vienna, 1902 - Londra, 1994) fece, ancor giovanissimo, diverse esperienze intellettuali (fisica, matematica, musica, politica), lavorando per un certo periodo presso la clinica per l'infanzia di Alfred Adler . Si laureò in filosofia nel 1928, iniziando a lavorare come insegnante di matematica e fisica nella scuola media. Ebbe stretti rapporti con il Circolo di Vienna , anche se non ne fece mai parte e, anzi, ne prese ben presto le distanze, criticando molte posizioni da questo sostenute. Dopo l'occupazione nazista dell'Austria, fu costretto a emigrare in Nuova Zelanda, dove gli fu offerta una prestigiosa cattedra al Canterbury University College di Christchurch. Finita la guerra, gli fu offerta la possibiltà di tornare in Europa grazie alla cattedra di logica e poi a quella di metodologia presso la London School of Economics Abbandonò l'insegnamento nel 1969; nel 1985 si trasferì a Kenley (Londra), dove rimase fino alla morte. Popper ha avuto numerosi riconoscimenti per la sua attività di ricerca, come la nomina a membro della Royal Society o quella a membro dell' International Academy for Philosophy of Science , e ancora membro onorario della Royal Society della Nuova Zelanda, membro onorario della

28. Karl Popper (Stanford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy) setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/popper/ visit to Prague in 1994, including the text of his lecture at Charles University. http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/popper/

Cite this entry Search the SEP Advanced Search Tools ... Please Read How You Can Help Keep the Encyclopedia Free Karl Popper First published Thu Nov 13, 1997; substantive revision Mon Oct 9, 2006 Section Headings: 1. Life 2. Backdrop to his Thought 3. The Problem of Demarcation 4. The Growth of Human Knowledge ... Related Entries 1. Life Realgymnasium Popper obtained a primary school teaching diploma in 1925, took a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1928, and qualified to teach mathematics and physics in secondary school in 1929. The dominant philosophical group in Vienna at the time was the Wiener Kreis Tractatus Logik der Forschung The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959), are now universally recognised as classics in the field. He was knighted in 1965, and retired from the University of London in 1969, though he remained active as a writer, broadcaster and lecturer until his death in 1994. (For more detail on Popper's life, cf. his Unended Quest Return to Section Headings 2. Backdrop to his Thought A number of biographical features may be identified as having a particular influence upon Popper's thought. In the first place, his teenage flirtation with Marxism left him thoroughly familiar with the Marxist view of economics, class-war, and history. Secondly, he was appalled by the failure of the democratic parties to stem the rising tide of fascism in his native Austria in the 1920s and 1930s, and the effective welcome extended to it by the Marxists. The latter acted on the ideological grounds that it constituted what they believed to be a necessary dialectical step towards the implosion of capitalism and the ultimate revolutionary victory of communism. This was one factor which led to the much feared

29. Hoover Institution - Hoover Digest - Remembering Karl Popper A reflection on the life of former Hoover fellow karl popper, one of the past century’s greatest thinkers. By Piers Norris Turner. http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3476946.html

var js="0.0"; js="1.0"; js="1.1"; js="1.2"; js="1.3"; js="1.4"; js="1.5"; Hoover Digest Browse by date (past issues) Browse by topic Browse by author ... Table of Contents HISTORY AND CULTURE: Remembering Karl Popper By Piers Norris Turner A reflection on the life of former Hoover fellow Karl Popper, one of the past century’s greatest thinkers. By Piers Norris Turner font-size: 300%; float: left; color: #000000; font-family: sabon,garamond,serif; Karl Popper One person’s life can sometimes tell the story of an entire century. Such is the case with Sir Karl Popper (1902–1994), one of the foremost critics of authoritarianism in the twentieth century, yet also arguably the premier philosopher of science during a century of unparalleled scientific discovery. THE OPEN SOCIETY AND ITS ENEMIES In 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall brought renewed interest in Popper’s major contribution to political philosophy, The Open Society and Its Enemies . When The Open Society Popper was a fallibilist , one who perceives great error and danger in any theory of knowledge—or regime—that claimed to offer certain truth. In such a system, there would be no incentive to establish social and political structures that promote learning or the free exchange of ideas; truth is already at hand. In the name of historical progress, the regime may then justify the squelching of human freedoms and even atrocities on a grand scale. Consequently, Popper fought against those who claimed to know the historical laws of change, a false doctrine Popper called historicism. Historicist prophecies were a threat to the open society, and, indeed, both nazism and Soviet-style totalitarianism alike produced unimaginable horrors.

30. BBC - Radio 4 In Our Time - Home Page karl popper is one of the most significant philosophers of the 20th Century, So how did karl popper change our approach to the philosophy of science? http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20070208.shtml

@import '/includes/tbenh.css'; @import url(/radio4/styles/history_rnav_new.css); Home TV Radio Talk ... Radio 4 PROGRAMME FINDER: A-Z Directory Listen Again Download/Podcast What's On Listings ... Presenters PROGRAMME GENRES: Arts and Drama Science History Factual TOP PROGRAMMES THIS WEEK: The Archers Today Programme Woman's Hour In Our Time ... Contact Us Like this page? Send it to a friend! In Our Time MISSED A PROGRAMME? Go to the Listen Again page Thursday 9.00-9.45am, repeated 9.30pm. Programme details Find out more about thissubject by using our research page Karl Popper is one of the most significant philosophers of the 20 th Century, whose ideas about science and politics robustly challenged the accepted ideas of the day. He strongly resisted the prevailing empiricist consensus that scientists' theories could be proved true. not not necessarily true. Instead it had simply not proved false, yet! This became known as the theory of falsification. Contributors John Worrall , Professor of Philosophy of Science at the London School of Economics Anthony O'Hear , Weston Professor of Philosophy at Buckingham University Nancy Cartwright Audio Help In Our Time With Melvyn Bragg Download or subscribe to this programme's podcast In Our Time Latest Programme Subject Research Have Your Say Archives - Listen Again ... Philosophy Resource Melvyn Bragg Read a profile of Melvyn Bragg Message Board BBC History messageboard See also BBC History BBC Radio 4 History History Message Board BBC History See Also Elsewhere on bbc.co.uk

31. Karl Popper's Assault On Science (CD)-Ayn Rand Bookstore karl popper was a minor philosopher, but a major transmitter of Kantian skepticism into the culture. Posing as an exponent of scientific method, http://www.aynrandbookstore2.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CD01M

32. CSSHS Archives - V02n4p20.htm At this juncture, karl popper makes a very interesting comment. a karl popper, The Poverty of Historicism (London Routledge Keegan Paul, http://www.creationism.org/csshs/v02n4p20.htm

MAIN F A Q LINKS ARTICLES ... AUDIO Karl Popper's Challenge By Russell Kranz Is the theory of evolution scientific? Not much that Darwin would like. "Darwinism is not a testable scientific theory," Popper says, `but a metaphysical research programme."1 Popper's views are widely respected in Europe and particularly in England, where he has come to be regarded as one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century. Sir Peter Medawar rates him as "incomparably the greatest philosopher of science that has ever been."2 Another well-known mathematician and astronomer says, "There is no more to science than to its method and there is no more to its method than Popper has said." Popperian influence can be seen in medicine, in art even in politics and theology. Leading politicians have expressed their indebtedness to him. Not a Law Professor Popper is severely critical of attempts to turn evolution theory into scientific fact. "There can never be a law of evolution," he wrote in one of his earlier works.3 "The idea of a law which determines the direction and character of evolution is a typical 19th century mistake arising out of the general tendency to ascribe to the natural law the functions traditionally ascribed to God."4 What happened then, he says, was this: "The earlier, naturalistic revolution against God replaced the name God by the name Nature. Almost everything else was left unchanged. Theology. the science of God, was replaced by the science of nature. God’s laws by the laws of nature. God's will and power by the will and power of nature (the natural forces) and later God's design and God's judgment by natural selection. Theological determinism was replaced by naturalistic determinism, that is. God's omnipotence and omniscience were replaced by the omnipotence of nature and the omniscience of science."5

33. Science, Pseudo-science, And Falsifiability karl popper, 1962. The problem which troubled me at the time was neither, When is a theory true? nor, When is a theory acceptable? http://karws.gso.uri.edu/JFK/critical_thinking/Science_pseudo_falsifiability.htm

Science, Pseudo-Science, and Falsifiability Karl Popper, 1962 The problem which troubled me at the time was neither, "When is a theory true?" nor, "When is a theory acceptable?" My problem was different. I wished to distinguish between science and pseudo-science ; knowing very well that science often errs, and that pseudo-science may happen to stumble on the truth. I knew, of course, the most widely accepted answer to my problem: that science is distinguished from pseudo-science—or from "metaphysics"—by its empirical method , which is essentially inductive , proceeding from observation or experiment. But this did not satisfy me. On the contrary, I often formulated my problem as one of distinguishing between a genuinely empirical method and a non-empirical or even a pseudo-empirical method—that is to say, a method which, although it appeals to observation and experiment, nevertheless does not come up to scientific standards. The latter method may be exemplified by astrology, with its stupendous mass of empirical evidence based on observation—on horoscopes and on biographies. But as it was not the example of astrology which led me to my problem I should perhaps briefly describe the atmosphere in which my problem arose and the examples by which it was stimulated. After the collapse of the Austrian Empire there had been a revolution in Austria: the air was full of revolutionary slogans and ideas, and new and often wild theories. Among the theories which interested me Einstein’s theory of relativity was no doubt the most important. Three others were Marx’s theory of history, Freud’s psycho-analysis, and Alfred Adler’s so-called "individual psychology."

34. British Academy - Obituary Of Karl Popper Obituary by John Watkins, from the Proceedings of the British Academy. http://www.britac.ac.uk/pubs/src/popper/

Home Events Fellowship Funding ... Policy Related pages: Proceedings Index General Author/Title Index Series Index Proceedings of the British Academy Karl Raimund Popper by John Watkins London School of Economics Published (December 1997) in Proceedings of the British Academy , Volume , pp. 645–684 PDF version Privacy Statement top home

35. Sir Karl Popper Sir karl popper. Science Conjectures and Refutations. Mr. Turnbull had predicted evil consequences, . . . and was now doing the http://cla.calpoly.edu/~fotoole/321.1/popper.html

Sir Karl Popper Science: Conjectures and Refutations Mr. Turnbull had predicted evil consequences, . . . and was now doing the best in his power to bring about the verification of his own prophecies. ANTHONY TROLLOPE When I received the list of participants in this course and realized that I had been asked to speak to philosophical colleagues I thought, after some hesitation and consultation, that you would probably prefer me to speak about those problems which interest me most, and about those developments with which I am most intimately acquainted. I therefore decided to do what I have never done before: to give you a report on my own work in the philosophy of science, since the autumn of1919 when I first began to grapple with the problem, "When should a theory be ranked as scientific?" or "Is there a criterion for the scientific character or status of a theory?" The problem which troubled me at the time was neither, "When is a theory true?"nor, "When is a theory acceptable?" My problem was different. I wished to distinguish between science and pseudo-science;

36. Negative Utilitarians: Karl Popper (1902-93) The term negative utilitariaism (NU) was coined by Sir karl popper (popper, karl 1952. The Open Society and its Enemies. http://www.utilitarianism.com/karl-popper.html

Karl Popper and Negative Utilitarianism "I believe that there is, from the ethical point of view, no symmetry between suffering and happiness, or between pain and pleasure. Both the greatest happiness principle of the Utilitarians and Kant's principle, "Promote other people's happiness...", seem to me (at least in their formulations) fundamentally wrong in this point, which is, however, not one for rational argument....In my opinion...human suffering makes a direct moral appeal for help, while there is no similar call to increase the happiness of a man who is doing well anyway." Karl Popper The Open Society and Its Enemies The term " negative utilitariaism " (NU) was coined by Sir Karl Popper (Popper, Karl: 1952. The Open Society and its Enemies . Princeton N.J.: Princeton University Press. vol.I ch.5, note 6). The concept of negative utilitarianism was foreshadowed earlier e.g. in the work of Edmund Gurney (1847-88). It has obvious affinities with Buddhism . At first blush, NU appears to entail mass euthanasia , although this implication has been disputed Karl Popper was both a philosopher of science and a political philosopher. He is perhaps most famous for his falsification principle (

37. Popper, Karl - Bright Sparcs Biographical Entry popper, karl Bright Sparcs Biographical entry, Bright Sparcs is a biographical, bibliographical and archival database of Australian scientists with links http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P002495b.htm

Bright Sparcs Biographical entry Home Browse Search Previous ... Next Popper, Karl (1902 - 1994) CH, FRS Philosopher Born: 28 July 1902 Vienna, Austria. Died: 17 September 1994. (Sir) Karl Popper was Professor of logic and scientific method at the London School of Economics from 1949 to 1969. Before that he lectured at Canterbury University College in New Zealand (1937-1944) Popper left school at 16 and spent time doing manual work, before enrolling at the University of Vienna. Some of his other jobs were coaching American students, cabinet-making 1922-24, and social work with neglected children. In 1925 Popper enrolled at the Pedagogic Institute and became a school teacher. Popper wrote many works including his Logic der Forschung (The Logic of Scientific Discovery) which made his reputation as a philosopher and "The Open Society and its Enemies". Career Highlights Chronology Learnt cabinet-making Spent time in England Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Canterbury University College, New Zealand Reader at the London School of Economics Professor of Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics Knighted Companion of Honour(CH) Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields Prepared by: Rosanne Walker Created: 30 June 1997 Modified: 13 December 2006 Published by The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre on ASAPWeb Originally published 1994-1999 by Australian Science Archives Project, 1999-2006 by the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre

38. George Soros At the London School of Economics, Soros became acquainted with the work of the philosopher karl popper, whose ideas on open society had a profound http://www.soros.org/about/bios/a_soros

@import url(http://www.soros.org/styles.standards.css); Home Help Site Map Contact About OSI: Overview FAQs Bios Staff Directory ... Soros Foundations Biographies George Soros Aryeh Neier Stewart J. Paperin George Soros Founder and Chairman A global financier and philanthropist, George Soros is the founder and chairman of a network of foundations that promote, among other things, the creation of open, democratic societies based upon the rule of law, market economies, transparent and accountable governance, freedom of the press, and respect for human rights. Soros was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1930. His father was taken prisoner during World War I and eventually fled from captivity in Russia to reunite with his family in Budapest. Soros was thirteen years old when Hitler's Wehrmacht seized Hungary and began deporting the country's Jews to extermination camps. In 1946, as the Soviet Union was taking control of the country, Soros attended a conference in the West and defected. He emigrated in 1947 to England, supported himself by working as a railroad porter and a restaurant waiter, graduated in 1952 from the London School of Economics, and obtained an entry-level position with an investment bank. Philosophy The Open Society and Its Enemies , in which he maintained that societies can only flourish when they allow democratic governance, freedom of expression, a diverse range of opinion, and respect for individual rights.

39. A Pure View Of Popper The problem stems from Dewdney s adherence to a view of science close to that promoted by the philosopher karl popper. In popperian thinking, a falsifiable http://www.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/popper.html

web hosting domain names photo sharing Roger Bridgman reviews A. K. Dewdney's Yes, We Have No Neutrons EVER since those unusual noises started coming from Victor Frankenstein's spare room, scientists be-having badly have been good for a laugh. But A. K. Dewdney, better known to long-term readers of Scientific American as a deviser of tricks and treats for home computers, isn't laughing. Like a stern head-master , he insists scientists who don't stick to the rules bring the whole school into disrepute. Sadly, these rules soon get Dewdney himself into trouble. The problem lies in his definition of bad science . It happens, he says, "when someone strays in a fatal way from the scientific method". Unlike bad behaviour, which is still behaviour however bad it gets, bad science, it seems, ceases to be science at all. How then can we continue to call it bad science? If we were really as strict as this, scientists would be immune to censure: as soon as they broke the rules they would no longer be bound by them. This is an unhappy start to a book aiming to debunk sloppy thinking. The problem stems from Dewdney's adherence to a view of science close to that promoted by the philosopher Karl Popper . In Popperian thinking, a falsifiable hypothesis is induced from observations and survives until someone comes up with a further observation it does not predict.

40. The Karl Popper Debate Program The karl popper Debate Program is designed to foster critical thinking skills and tolerance for differing points of view. Currently, more than twenty http://www.osi.hu/debate/

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