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This was a fun read, but I found the premise of the "paradox" frustrating. I get that it's kind of funny how the falsfiability guy is passionate and dogmatic ab
by bo1024 8y ago
This was a fun read, but I found the premise of the "paradox" frustrating.
I get that it's kind of funny how the falsfiability guy is passionate and dogmatic about his views.
But taking it seriously that this is a contradiction and asking "is falsification falsifiable" is a basic misunderstanding.
It reminds me of popular misinterpretations of Godel's theorem.
The author seemed to not understand Popper's response, which was dead on of course.
The type of thing that can be falsified is a scientific theory that makes empirical predictions.
Falsification is a prescription for how to do science.
It can be argued against from a philosophical standpoint, but it makes no predictions and cannot be proven wrong by observation.
It's like asking if the 4th Commandment can be falsified -- the compiler gives a type error.
Again, enjoyable read, but this aspect was disappointing.
- mactintyre 8y agoNice response; love the 4th commandment point. I found the author to be on the attack, from the beginning, with the whole taxi driver / address thing. Who cares? Plus the first driver even knew the street. Then the author seems pathetic here: "Peering searchingly into my eyes, he asked if one of his critics had persuaded me to pose the question. Yes, I lied." Why lie? Have some guts, like Popper evidently does, and believe in what you want to ask. Popper at this time was 90 years old, surely not putting his best foot forward. It was a poor essay overall, IMO, but I love to read anything about Popper.