Are all Swans White in the Social Imagination...?

 

Summary of Karl Popper's Theory...

• Karl Popper believed that scientific knowledge is provisional – What does that mean? It means the best we can do at the moment.
• Popper is known for his attempt to refute the classical positivist account of the scientific method, by replacing induction with the falsification principle.
• The Falsification Principle, proposed by Karl Popper, is a way of demarcating science from non-science. It suggests that for a theory to be considered scientific it must be able to be tested and conceivably proven false.
• For example, the hypothesis that "all swans are white," can be falsified by observing a black swan.
• For Popper, science should attempt to disprove a theory, rather than attempt to continually support theoretical hypotheses.

Karl Popper is prescriptive, and describes what science should do (not how it actually behaves). Popper is a rationalist and contended that the central question in the philosophy of science was distinguishing science from non-science.

Karl Popper in The Logic of Scientific Discovery emerged as a major critic of inductivism, which he saw as an essentially old-fashioned strategy.

Popper replaced the classical observationalist-inductivist account of the scientific method with falsification (i.e. deductive logic) as the criterion for distinguishing scientific theory from non-science.

All inductive evidence is limited: we do not observe the universe at all times and in all places. We are not justified therefore in making a general rule from this observation of particulars.

According to Popper, scientific theory should make predictions which can be tested, and the theory rejected if these predictions are shown not to be correct.  He argued that science would best progress using deductive reasoning as its primary emphasis, known as critical rationalism. 

Do you see the difference? You should because there is a huge difference. The problem with today's science is that its politicized and marketed to fit an agenda. Now, you should definitely see the difference between science and knowledge. As Popper wrote, scientists should test their theories not to verify them but to falsify them and hence...become even more accurate.

*Source ~ The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1935) by Karl Popper is a classic work on the purpose of science and knowledge. Scientists should test their theories not to verify them, but to falsify them, and hence become even more accurate.