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

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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