Criterion of Popper. Refutation and provability

The nineteenth century was a time when the philosophy of positivism was vividly developing . At the beginning of the 20th century, in the early 1900s, the so-called Vienna circle of scientists was formed, which considered the exact sciences an ideal, they were critical of the humanities, although many of them were humanities themselves. Among the members of the Vienna Circle, Karl Popper was especially significant. His discoveries were very important. Popper's criterion is used not only in science, but also in judicial practice.

Is the professor angry?

Herr Popper was a very tough teacher. He could expel the student from the lecture for the slightest disagreement or for a stupid question. Nevertheless, there were always a lot of people who wanted to listen to it. To philosophy, Popper was extremely critical, he encouraged students to independent thinking, but expressing his opinion on his lectures was a risky business. Especially if some student asked if it is impossible to apply the principle of rebuttal to the principle of rebuttal. It was enough to utter this simple tautological expression, so that the eyes of the teacher were filled with blood. What is Popper's principle?

Science has properties

To consider an assertion, a hypothesis or a scientific theory, it is necessary that in principle it can be refuted. The Popper criterion says that rebutability is an inseparable property of scientific knowledge. If something is impossible to refute, then it can not be proved. Here, too, is the requirement that the formulations be sufficiently clear, otherwise the phrase, hypothesis or theory loses its refutability. If it is impossible to disprove the knowledge in question, then those who support it simply engage in pseudoscience.

Falsehood is not proven

The Popper criterion says that knowledge that does not have rebuttal does not necessarily have to be false. Many metaphysical principles, for example, are not false, they are simply unscientific - that is, their authenticity can not be proved. We just do not know, and in principle we can not know. What knowledge does Popper's criterion automatically make pseudoscience?

Particularly suspicious in this respect are the so-called esoteric knowledge. They are usually formulated extremely broadly, if desired, each person can try to find confirmation. Most esoteric principles can not be verified, therefore knowledge of this kind should be considered simply a product of human idleness created for leisure. But do not take them too seriously.

Arkansas Business

As mentioned, Popper's criterion was also applied in judicial practice. As a result of the case of the teaching of creationism in school, it was proved that this teaching can not be considered within the natural sciences, but should take place in the course of religion, since knowledge of this kind is unprovable and irrefutable. After this incident in 1982, this principle was decided to be used in the future, if the issue of scientific or unscientificity is resolved, although lawsuits of this kind are very rare even among amateurs who are amenable to judging.

So, Karl Popper laid the foundations of a modern understanding of science. It was he who was able to formulate what is obvious to a man of our time. However, not so obvious, if you recall the popularity of esotericism ...