#Art of deduction podcast how to

Popper’s objective is similar: he seeks to elevate abstract principles by undercutting inductively derived understandings with the principle of Falsifiability. He assigns this property to Logic and Geometry, thus elevating logically derived abstract truth in the hierarchy of knowledge vis a vis inductively (intuitively) derived understandings. Leibniz describes a Necessary Truth as one that could not be otherwise. Hume refers to this as the Problem of Induction and decides it is insoluble. It should come as no surprise that this also underpins all scientific thinking.

#Art of deduction podcast how to

Listen to Dylan's summary of the essays.Ī problem for Science is how to justify contingent, inductively derived understandings, which are foundational in spite of claims to the contrary.Īll of us derive our common understandings on the basis of contingent beliefs. Read more about the topic and get the text. Modify, not reject: really, the most powerful force in knowledge is tradition, so long as that tradition is open to critique. We approach nature with expectations: we leap to a theory with little if any warrant (the 'conjectures') and then we modify it when it fails us ('refutations'). For Popper, there is no such infallible source.

With this idea, Popper thinks he's achieved a real respect for objectivity and beaten the epistemologists of the past, both empiricists (who think the ultimate source of knowledge is experience) and rationalists (who think that it's reason). What is science, and how is it different than pseudo-science? From philosophy? Is philosophy just pseudo-science, or proto-science, or what? Popper thinks that all legitimate inquiry is about solving real problems, and scientific theories are those that are potentially falsifiable: they make definitely predictions about the world that, if these fail to be true, would show that the theory is false. On Conjectures and Refutations (1963), the first three essays. Or become a PEL Citizen for $5 a month, and get access to this and all other paywalled episodes, including 68 back catalogue episodes exclusive Part 2's for episodes published after September, 2020 and our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat more causally.