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Karl Popper began his career at the University of Vienna in 1918 studying mathematics and theoretical physics. Popper went on to graduate and then obtain a Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1928. He published his first work in 1935, Logik der Forschung, which translates to, “The Logic of Research”(Shea). Popper then translated the book into English in 1959 and titled it, “The Logic of Scientific Discovery.” This book was the beginning of Popper’s contributions to the philosophy of science. -
“The Logic of Scientific Discovery,” offered Popper's first presentation of scientific methodology and the importance of falsifiability among science. A large portion of Popper’s career focused on falsifiability and the Criterion of Demarcation (Shea). The Criterion of Demarcation was Popper’s way of describing the difficulty distinguishing between science and non-science. His solution to this issue was Falsificationism. -
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Falsificationism is the claim that “a hypothesis is scientific if and only if it has the potential to be refuted by some possible observation” (Godfrey-Smith). Karl Popper was adamant on the idea that nothing in science can be completely proven. He felt that the only thing testing can accomplish is proving a theory false (Godfrey-Smith). Popper’s view for testing theories was predicting an outcome, testing it, and if the outcome is false then the idea has successfully been falsified.
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1935, Logik der Forschung, Vienna: Julius Springer Verlag.
1959 [2002], The Logic of Scientific Discovery, translation by the
author of Logik der Forschung (1935), London: Hutchinson.
Republished 2002, London & New York: Routledge Classics.
1963, Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific
Knowledge, London: Routledge. -
Popper theorized that if the outcome comes out as expected, or is confirmed, then the theory is considered not yet falsified (Godfrey-Smith). Karl Popper began teaching at The London School of Economics in 1946 and stayed there until he retired in 1969 (Shea). While teaching he continued to work on issues in the Philosophy of Science. He went on to make many great works and continued working in the field until shortly before his death in 1994. His work will continue to be remembered and read.