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"One of the main tasks for human reason is to make the universe we live in understandable to ourselves. This is the task of science. There are two different components of about equal importance in this enterprise. The first is poetic inventiveness ..."
– Karl Popper
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Monthly Archives: April 2010
Arthur Koestler, a symbol of the 20th century
Michael Scammel’s biography runs to 700 pages and is likely to be the primary source on Koestler for some time. A minor quibble, the writing is competent but no more than that, it is a shame that such a fine … Continue reading
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Criticism of Salmon on Popper
Wesley Salmon wrote a critique of critical rationalism in which he claimed this it could not explain why it is rational to use the predictions of scientific theories to help us make decisions. First, note that Salmon does not and … Continue reading
Posted in epistemology, logic, science
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Two Solutions to the Problem of Induction
I have been thinking anew about the problem of induction recently, and wished to explain and contrast two proposed solutions. One of these solutions is Popper’s falsificationism; the other solution is what I believe has been implicitly accepted and taught … Continue reading
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What’s wrong with contemporary philosophy?
That is the title of a paper by Kevin Mulligan, Peter Simons and Barry Smith. Abstract. Philosophy in the West divides into three parts: Analytic Philosophy (AP), Continental Philosophy (CP), and History of Philosophy (HP). But all three parts are … Continue reading
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Bartley on Lakatos and Popper
In 1985 Colin Simkin put me in touch with Bill Bartley who was the official biographer for Karl Popper. Simkin became a close friend of Popper in Christchurch in 1937 or 1938 and they kept in touch until Popper died … Continue reading
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Popper Interview about God
Popper Interview Popper says “I don’t know whether God exists or not.” and ” I do think that all men, including myself, are religious.” Also “I would be glad if God were to exist, to be able to concentrate my … Continue reading
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Justificationism and philosophy of mind
I have read some philosophy of mind over the past couple of weeks and have come across some odd justificationist arguments. You know the ones I mean: ‘I can be certain that I think X’, or ‘When I am having … Continue reading
Posted in epistemology
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Corroboration
When we corroborate a theory (i.e., it passes tests), the theory is better in some way. This is a dangerous statement because being better sounds like it’s more supported. The way it’s better is this: it is now harder to … Continue reading
Posted in epistemology
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Memories of Popper & the LSE
In 1995 the Australian journal Metascience had an interview with Alan Musgrave, a professsor of philosophy at at the University of Otago. Musgrave was a working class lad from Manchester when he arrived at the LSE in 1958.
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Help!!
On Amazon US my score for helpful reviews has hit 666, the Devil’s Number. Will someone please go in and register a helpful vote to get me off the dreaded number 666!
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