Philosophy 2500F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Equations For A Falling Body, Inductive Reasoning, Validity
24 Mar 2016
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The problem of induction: we have no reasons to believe that there are any natural laws, there is no such thing as a justi ed natural law. Karl popper (1904-1994) thinks that it is irrational to rely on a form of argument that we have no reason to trust. We must re-think how science is done. Hypotheses about natural laws cannot be con rmed but they can be falsi ed. If you see one thousand bodies fall at the same rate, tiy have no reason to believe that all bodies fall at the same rate. If you do see one body fall at a different rate, you have a reason to believe that the law of falling bodies is false. A negative experimental outcine is much more informative than a positive outcome. So scientists should be in the business of attempting to falsify their theories; this is the method of conjecture and refutation.
