Imre Lakatos: November 9, 1922, Debrecen, Hungary- February 2, 1974, London, United Kingdom.

  • Imre Lakatos: November 9, 1922, Debrecen, Hungary- February 2, 1974, London, United Kingdom.

    Born in Hungarian, Imre Lakatos was known as a philosopher of mathematics and science, after World War II and this for his significant contributions to the philosophy of science through his "Falsification and the methodology of scientific research programmes" published in 1970. Lakatos thinks that Thomas Kuhn’s view of the science is not quite rational and represented a danger to the society.
  • Imre Lakatos: November 9, 1922, Debrecen, Hungary- February 2, 1974, London, United Kingdom.

    To restore the rationality and arranged the mess caused by Kuhn he said that there is a necessity to assist the philosophy of science by the history of science. In this relation, scientists could sometimes misinterpret the history in advantage of the philosophy. Lakatos then went on and proposed the “Methodology of scientific research programs”.
  • Imre Lakatos: November 9, 1922, Debrecen, Hungary- February 2, 1974, London, United Kingdom.

    The methodology of scientific research programs has two parts: the hard core, which contains the fundamental principles essential for the research and the protective belts which are like auxiliary ideas used to “apply the hard core to actual phenomena” (Peter Godfrey-Smith, Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, P104). Opposite to Kuhn, Lakatos thinks that it could have multiple research programs at the same times.
  • Imre Lakatos: November 9, 1922, Debrecen, Hungary- February 2, 1974, London, United Kingdom.

    He argued that scientific progress occurs through a process he called "research programs in competition." He believed that scientific theories should be evaluated based on their problem-solving ability, rather than their falsifiability alone. Future theories emerged in respond to the problems encounter in a research program.