The Logic of Scientific Discovery 2nd Edition by Karl Popper, ISBN-13: 978-0415278447

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The Logic of Scientific Discovery 2nd Edition by Karl Popper, ISBN-13: 978-0415278447

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• Publisher: ‎ Routledge; 2nd edition (February 21, 2002)
• Language: ‎ English
• 544 pages
• ISBN-10: ‎ 9780415278447
• ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0415278447

Described by the philosopher A.J. Ayer as a work of ‘great originality and power’, this book revolutionized contemporary thinking on science and knowledge. Ideas such as the now legendary doctrine of ‘falsificationism’ electrified the scientific community, influencing even working scientists, as well as post-war philosophy. This astonishing work ranks alongside The Open Society and Its Enemies as one of Popper’s most enduring books and contains insights and arguments that demand to be read to this day.

Table of Contents:

Translators’ Note xii

Preface to the First Edition, 1934 xv

Preface to the First English Edition, 1959 xviii

PART I Introduction to the Logic of Science

1 A Survey of Some Fundamental Problems 3

1 The Problem of Induction

2 Elimination of Psychologism

3 Deductive Testing of Theories

4 The Problem of Demarcation

5 Experience as a Method

6 Falsifiability as a Criterion of Demarcation

7 The Problem of the ‘Empirical Basis’

8 Scientific Objectivity and Subjective Conviction

2 On the Problem of a Theory of Scientific Method 27

9 Why Methodological Decisions are Indispensable

10 The Naturalistic Approach to the Theory of Method

11 Methodological Rules as Conventions

PART II Some Structural Components of a Theory of Experience

3 Theories 37

12 Causality, Explanation, and the Deduction of Predictions

13 Strict and Numerical Universality

14 Universal Concepts and Individual Concepts

15 Strictly Universal and Existential Statements

16 Theoretical Systems

17 Some Possibilities of Interpreting a System of Axioms

18 Levels of Universality. The Modus Tollens

4 Falsifiability 57

19 Some Conventionalist Objections

20 Methodological Rules

21 Logical Investigation of Falsifiability

22 Falsifiability and Falsification

23 Occurrences and Events

24 Falsifiability and Consistency

5 The Problem of the Empirical Basis 74

25 Perceptual Experiences as Empirical Basis:

Psychologism

26 Concerning the So-Called ‘Protocol Sentences’

27 The Objectivity of the Empirical Basis

28 Basic Statements

29 The Relativity of Basic Statements. Resolution of

Fries’s Trilemma

30 Theory and Experiment

6 Degrees of Testability 95

31 A Programme and an Illustration

32 How are Classes of Potential Falsifiers to be Compared?

33 Degrees of Falsifiability Compared by Means of the

Subclass Relation

34 The Structure of the Subclass Relation.

Logical Probability

35 Empirical Content, Entailment, and Degrees

of Falsifiability

36 Levels of Universality and Degrees of Precision

37 Logical Ranges. Notes on the Theory of Measurement

38 Degrees of Testability Compared by Reference

to Dimensions

39 The Dimension of a Set of Curves

40 Two Ways of Reducing the Number of Dimensions

of a Set of Curves

7 Simplicity 121

41 Elimination of the Aesthetic and the Pragmatic

Concepts of Simplicity

42 The Methodological Problem of Simplicity

43 Simplicity and Degree of Falsifiability

44 Geometrical Shape and Functional Form

45 The Simplicity of Euclidean Geometry

46 Conventionalism and the Concept of Simplicity

8 Probability 133

47 The Problem of Interpreting Probability Statements

48 Subjective and Objective Interpretations

49 The Fundamental Problem of the Theory of Chance

50 The Frequency Theory of von Mises

51 Plan for a New Theory of Probability

52 Relative Frequency within a Finite Class

53 Selection, Independence, Insensitiveness, Irrelevance

54 Finite Sequences. Ordinal Selection and

Neighbourhood Selection

55 n-Freedom in Finite Sequences

56 Sequences of Segments. The First Form of the

Binomial Formula

57 Infinite Sequences. Hypothetical Estimates

of Frequency

58 An Examination of the Axiom of Randomness

59 Chance-Like Sequences. Objective Probability

60 Bernoulli’s Problem

61 The Law of Great Numbers (Bernoulli’s Theorem)

62 Bernoulli’s Theorem and the Interpretation of

Probability Statements

63 Bernoulli’s Theorem and the Problem of Convergence

64 Elimination of the Axiom of Convergence. Solution

of the ‘Fundamental Problem of the Theory of Chance’

65 The Problem of Decidability

66 The Logical Form of Probability Statements

67 A Probabilistic System of Speculative Metaphysics

68 Probability in Physics

69 Law and Chance

70 The Deducibility of Macro Laws from Micro Laws

71 Formally Singular Probability Statements

72 The Theory of Range

9 Some Observations on Quantum Theory 209

73 Heisenberg’s Programme and the

Uncertainty Relations

74 A Brief Outline of the Statistical Interpretation of

Quantum Theory

75 A Statistical Re-Interpretation of the

Uncertainty Formulae

76 An Attempt to Eliminate Metaphysical Elements by

Inverting Heisenberg’s Programme; with Applications

77 Decisive Experiments

78 Indeterminist Metaphysics

10 Corroboration, or How a Theory Stands up to Tests 248

79 Concerning the So-Called Verification of Hypotheses

80 The Probability of a Hypothesis and the Probability

of Events: Criticism of Probability Logic

81 Inductive Logic and Probability Logic

82 The Positive Theory of Corroboration: How a

Hypothesis may ‘Prove its Mettle’

83 Corroborability, Testability, and Logical Probability

84 Remarks Concerning the Use of the Concepts ‘True’

and ‘Corroborated’

85 The Path of Science

APPENDICES

i Definition of the Dimension of a Theory 283

ii The General Calculus of Frequency in Finite Classes 286

iii Derivation of the First Form of the Binomial

Formula 290

iv A Method of Constructing Models of Random

Sequences 293

v Examination of an Objection. The Two-Slit

Experiment 297

vi Concerning a Non-Predictive Procedure of

Measuring 301

vii Remarks Concerning an Imaginary Experiment 305

NEW APPENDICES

*i Two Notes on Induction and Demarcation,

1933–1934 312

*ii A Note on Probability, 1938 319

*iii On the Heuristic Use of the Classical Definition

of Probability 325

*iv The Formal Theory of Probability 329

*v Derivations in the Formal Theory of Probability 356

*vi On Objective Disorder or Randomness 369

*vii Zero Probability and the Fine-Structure of

Probability and of Content 374

*viii Content, Simplicity, and Dimension 392

*ix Corroboration, the Weight of Evidence, and

Statistical Tests 402

*x Universals, Dispositions, and Natural or

Physical Necessity 440

*xi On the Use and Misuse of Imaginary

Experiments, Especially in Quantum Theory 464

*xii The Experiment of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen.

A Letter from Albert Einstein, 1935 481

INDICES, compiled by Dr. J. Agassi

Name Index 489

Subject Index 494

Karl Popper (1902-1994) was one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century. His books include The Logic of Scientific Discovery, The Poverty of Historicism, Conjectures and Refutations, The Open Society and Its Enemies and an autobiography, Unended Quest. He was a professor at the London School of Economics.

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