AKA
empiricism
Verificationist
Theory of Meaning (Karl
Hempel,
1905 - 1997)
"Colorless
green
ideas Sleep furiously" (Noam
Chomsky, 1957)
Grammatical but
semantically meaningless
Ludwig
Wittgenstein
(1889 - 1951)
Tractatus
Logico-Philosophicus (1921) [Text]
Seven Propositions & commentary
Karl
Popper
(1902 - 1994)
The
Logic
of Scientific Discovery (1934;
1959)
The
Open
Society and its Enemies (1945)
Conjectures and
Refutations: The Growth of
Scientific Knowledge (1963)
Falsification
as a Criterion
of
Demarcation
"All Swans are
White" can
be disproved
Cf. failure of Kelvin & Jenkin disproofs of Natural
Selection
Fallacy
of
Induction & Skeptical Despair of
Reason
Thomas
Kuhn
(1922 - 1996)
Structure
of
Scientific Revolutions (1962;
Revised 1970, 1996, 2012)
"Normal"
vs "Revolutionary"
Science
"Paradigms" & paradigm
shifts
(Cf. Copernican
Revolution, Quantum Physics, Michelson-Morley
Experiment)
Incrementalism vs Revolution
in Biology
EA
Carlson (2018) How Scientific Progress Occurs
Kuhn to Carlson: Physics
is theory-driven,
Biology is descriptive
For Discussion:
Charles Darwin
introduces Natural
Selection
replaces
Argument from Design
Watson, Crick et al.
introduce DNA
Potential
for self-replication
Potential as
information
molecule
Molecular
Biology of the Gene
Germ Theory of Disease
Good Science, Bad Science,
Pseudo-Science, etc.
Phlogiston
Chemistry (17th cent) vs Alchemy
"Cold
Fusion"
physics (1989)
Acupuncture
& traditional Chinese medicine
Astrology
vs Astronomy (16th
cent)
Natural Selection vs "Intelligent Design" (21st cent)