Poppers

The scientific method, as mentioned, involves observation and experimentation (research) to discover or establish facts. These are followed by deduction or hypothesis, establishing theories or principles. This sequence, however, may be reversed. The noted twentieth-century philosopher Karl Popper, who also dealt with science, expressed the view that the scientist s work starts not with collection of data (observation) but with selection of a suitable problem (theory). In fact, both of these paths can be involved. vSignificant and sometimes accidental observations can be made without any preconceived idea of a problem or theory and vice versa. The scientist, however, must have a well-prepared, open mind to be able to recognize the significance of such observations and must be able to follow them through. Science always demands rigorous standards of procedure, reproducibility, and open discussion that set reason over irrational belief. 

J. E. Duddy, S. B. Panvelker, and G. A. Popper, "Commercial Economics of HRI Coal/Oil Co-Processing Technology," paper presented at 1990 SummerAIChE National Meeting, San Diego, Ca., 1990. 

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Paper nine is another one that appeared in American Scientist. In it I took a philosophical look at two important ideas that contributed to the evolution of the periodic system. These two ideas are Prout s hypothesis and the notion of triads, which was the subject of paper eight. Both hypotheses are interesting because they were extremely productive even though they both turned out to be refuted some time later. The fact that this should happen lends some support to the views of Karl Popper who always claimed that refutability was the all important aspect of good hypotheses and theories and not whether they turn out to be correct or not.23 For Popper, all that we really have is tentative theories and not theories that last forever. 

Popper, K, R, (1979) Die beiden Grundprobleme der Erkenntnistheorie (Tubingen Mohr-Siebeck),... 

Translated into many languages. English edition Popper (1959, 1980 see also Popper, 1983). 

Popper s theory has been criticized by Thomas Kuhn (1962, 1969), who asserts that the development of science proceeds in revolutions hypotheses and theories are not refuted and replaced by new ones instead the scientific community will accept a new, more convincing, or better presented hypothesis without the old one having been disproved. 

Since the 1960s there has been considerable activity in the philosophy of science concerning the relationship of Kuhn s theory to that of Popper. Williams (1970) put forward the idea that Kuhn s system is based on what scientists do, whereas Popper s system is concerned with what scientists ought to do (but do not). The fundamental question therefore arises why do scientists not do what they ought to ... 

But what influence do psychological factors have on the working techniques of scientists Popper (1970) has doubts whether the regress to these often spurious sciences (i.e., psychology) can help us in the elucidation of these problems. ... 

Popper s concept of falsification is related to negation in linguistics, i.e., to a psychologically influenced phenomenon of languages. 

The human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion. .. draws all things else to support and agree with it. This idea is more than 370 years old it was expressed by Francis Bacon (1620) and is a useful basis for consideration of the Kuhn-Popper controversy outlined above. 

A quotation from another great man of the 17th century refers to the same problem. Spinoza wrote in 1674 Omnis determinatio est negatio , i.e., each determination comes from a negation. If we take negatio as a description of falsification, we come to the basis of Popper s theory. Only a falsification is a real advance, because only this, but not a verification, is final. 

Such an experiment also fulfills Popper s conclusion on how scientists should work their planned experiments should allow them to falsify a given hypothesis, rather than to verify ( prove ) it. 

I think it was worthwhile to take a specific case to show that conclusion. Its major purpose is to make Popperian logic and Kuhn s unpredictable circle of normal science, crisis, and revolution better known among chemists and to show how both theories - those of Popper and Kuhn - commingle in the development of scientific discoveries. A third phenomenon should also be mentioned, although it did not play a role in our specific case, namely serendipity, i. e., the gift of making valuable discoveries not sought for. The word serendipity was coined by the British writer Horace Walpole in a letter in 1754 based on the title of the Persian fairy-tale The... 

The short summary here of Popper s and Kuhn s contributions to the philosophy of science is based, in the case of Popper, only on his early work, which emphasized logic and classified psychology as not scientific. It should be emphasized that the later work of Popper, particularly in the last two decades, demonstrates his broad and deep ideas covering much more than the philosophy of science in a narrow sense. An excellent example is his opinion on precision, as published in Popper s autobiography (1982, p. 24) The quest for precision is analogous to the quest for certainty, and both should be abandoned. .. One should never try to be more precise than the problem demands. .. It is always undesirable to make an effort to increase precision for its own sake — especially linguistic precision — since this usually leads to loss of clarity. ... 

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