Inductivist | TriviaQuestions.online

⭐ In the context of Karl Popper's work, inductivist approaches to the scientific method are considered…

Popper argued that focusing solely on confirming observations doesn't adequately test a theory's validity, as countless observations can support a theory without guaranteeing its truth; instead, he emphasized the importance of seeking falsifying evidence.

⭐ Core Definition: Inductivist

Inductivism is the traditional and still commonplace philosophy of scientific method to develop scientific theories. Inductivism aims to neutrally observe a domain, infer laws from examined cases—hence, inductive reasoning—and thus objectively discover the sole naturally true theory of the observed.

Inductivism's basis is, in sum, "the idea that theories can be derived from, or established on the basis of, facts". Evolving in phases, inductivism's conceptual reign spanned four centuries and began with Francis Bacon's 1620 proposal in his Novum Organum, itself a reply to the pre-scientific scholastic model of inquiry which prioritized deductive reasoning from sources of belief taken to be authoritative such as religious texts.

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👉 Inductivist in the context of Karl Popper

Sir Karl Raimund Popper CH FRS FBA (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian–British philosopher, academic and social commentator. One of the 20th century's most influential philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the classical inductivist views on the scientific method in favour of empirical falsification made possible by his falsifiability criterion, and for founding the Department of Philosophy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. According to Popper, a theory in the empirical sciences can never be proven, but it can be falsified, meaning that it can (and should) be scrutinised with decisive experiments. Popper was opposed to the classical justificationist account of knowledge, which he replaced with "the first non-justificational philosophy of criticism in the history of philosophy", namely critical rationalism.

In political discourse, he is known for his vigorous defence of liberal democracy and the principles of social criticism that he believed made a flourishing open society possible. His political thought resides within the camp of Enlightenment rationalism and humanism. He was a dogged opponent of totalitarianism, communism, nationalism, fascism, and other kinds of (in Popper's view) reactionary and irrational ideas, and identified modern liberal democracies as the best-to-date embodiment of an open society.

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