PHIL 2180 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Pseudoscience, Karl Popper, Falsifiability
26 Feb 2016
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A philosopher regarded as a hero by many scientists. His ideas have been used in debates about the classification of organisms and ecology. Knighted by the queen of england in 1965. Began distinguishing real science from pseudo-science. called the problem of demarcation. To popper real science was the work of the like of einstein and pseudo by sigmund freud and. Falsificationism: claims that a hypothesis is scientific if and only if it has the potential to be refuted by some observation. Did not believe in confirmation of scientific theories. Fallibilism: the idea that we can never be completely certain about factual issues. Take a theory someone has proposed and deduce an observational prediction. Check to see if the prediction comes out as the theory says. If the prediction fails, then the theory is refuted. If the prediction passes, then all we can say is that the theory has not yet been falsified.
