VirusWiki - View Source: KarlPopper

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Together with Godel'sTheorem, BertrandRussell's idea of peer review, Popper's notion of [falsifiability] changed modern notions of proof and the ScientificMethod. Popper accepted Hume's critique of [induction], taking the view that no matter how many times the same result occurs in an experiment there always remains the possibility that the next result will contradict this. Under such circumstances a theory cannot be verified, merely assigned a [probability] value (can we say [truth value] here? --DavidLucifer). However, the falsification of a theory  may be regarded as conclusive whereas verification may not.

Popper is also noteworthy for having applied these observations beyond the realms of pure science. For example, communism had always described itself as being scientific, but was criticised by Popper for failing to pay heed to instances where its tenets had been falsified. Since communism failed to fulfill its predictions it has since fallen into the realm of [belief] - see [OnCommunism]. In particular, Popper regarded communist claims to predict social trends as being spurious. Since such events could not be predicted the only sensible approach is to proceed through continual scrutiny; to Popper the notions of democracy and rights can almost be considered as being analagous to peer review.

These ideas have proved extremely influential. The conservative social theorist MichaelOakeshott, applied [scepticism] to politics, seeking to exclude notions of certainty from that arena so that governments are restrained from imposing policies based on spurious notions of [certainty]. At the other end of the political spectrum, the [postmodernist] RichardRorty holds that since no interpretation of phenomena can lay claim to certain universality, a democracy accompanied by freedoms of speech is the most sensible approach. Finally, the economist [FriedrichHayek] took the view that since knowledge is limited and reason constrained, complex societies are not subject to prediction. In particular, attempting to predict social behaviour in advance of the individual decision is invalid since the the predicting agency may skew the results. This formed the backbone of Hayek's critique of socialism - see [OnCommunism].

Popper has been considered for the post of Virian [Saint] for his implacable hostility to [Dogmatism] and indeed for having provided the very intellectual framework which exposed its inadequacies. The Virian emphasis on [ethics] rather than [morals] reflects Popper's refusal to admit of certainty in such matters.

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