Right and Popper - 4. Along came Einstein

"The important thing is not to stop questioning" - Albert Einstein








In Popper's description of the world, if we are rational, we will base our decisions on truth, which is another way of saying we will base them on the best of our knowledge. Truth, in the scientific sense, is not absolute but that which corresponds to the facts, and of course, we never have all the facts.

How long is a piece of string?
Magee uses the example of measurement to demonstrate Popper's view of scientific truth. if you think about it, we can never obtain an exact measurement of the length of a piece of string. With more and more precise equipment we can reduce our uncertainty to 1 cm, 1 mm, 0.1 mm etc but an exact measurement is a concept, it can never be physically realized because we can always improve our accuracy.  

Even though exact measurement is unattainable, we can still make great practical use of both measurement and accuracy of measurement. Our aim in accurately measuring the length of a piece of sting, just as in the scientific method, is to approach the truth ever more closely while accepting that we can never reach it. Alternatively, we can just say the length of a piece of string is twice half it's length, which is exact but does nothing to enhance our understanding of it's length.

Right and Popper - 3. Science, there's method in the madness

"Scientific views end in awe and mystery, lost at the edge in uncertainty..." - Richard Feynman

If the scientific method in which we put so much trust cannot be logically justified, should we abandon it entirely? Are we once again lost in the mystery of the universe, resigned to looking to the heavens for signs and portents just as our ancestors did?

I would argue that, yes we are lost in the mystery of the universe but that science is a pretty good map, one which is constantly being revised. 

The map is not the territory
No one would ever argue that some lines and shading drawn on a bit of paper are in any way the same as the territory which they represent, but maps give us a practical way of navigating, they give us a way to get where we want to go and tell us what to expect along the way. I think science is similar.

According to Magee, Hume's problem has led almost all scientists to accept that scientific laws cannot be proved and therefore are not certain. Each time we observe supporting evidence for our theories however, we become more convinced as to their validity. Every time we see the sun rise in the morning, our faith grows that it will also rise tomorrow. 

What science does is gives us the most probable explanation given our current level of understanding and there can be no doubt that the results it delivers are of great practical usefulness. The fact that science is useful though doesn't get rid of the nagging problem that it doesn't have a strictly logical basis.

Right and Popper - 2. Why science is irrational

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple" - Oscar Wilde 












In our current age of immense scientific discovery, we may feel a little pity when we look back at our ancestors. Condemned to look in vain to the sky for omens and portents, making meaningless sacrifices to a myriad of gods, lost in the mystery of the universe. 

We however can relax, comfortably secure in our scientific knowledge, knowledge that has been painstakingly developed from careful application of the scientific method. The ultimate test of logic and rationality. 

Well, maybe we shouldn't be feeling quite so comfortable, maybe science isn't so rational after all!

Right and Popper - 1. The great man himself

"Our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite." - Karl Popper














Everything I know about the philosopher Karl Popper I have learnt from a tiny book consisting of just 110 small pages. Yet that tiny book is a treasure trove of wisdom. The knowledge conveyed within its pages I would argue is indispensable to the scientist, politician and philosopher alike.

Without boring you too much with the details, Popper was born in Vienna in 1902. He was a great philosopher, not only of the natural sciences but also of social science and politics. The tiny book I spoke of is a short summary of Popper's work which was written in 1973 by Bryan Magee and simply entitled, Popper. If you can obtain a copy it's a highly recommended read! 

The Nobel Prize winner, Sir John Eccles advised scientists to "read and meditate on Popper's writings on the philosophy of science and to adopt them as the basis of operation of one's scientific life" and in his summary of Popper's work, Magee states that Popper's is a "philosophy of action" and 'that it "changes peoples lives and the way they do their work". What greater advert could their be for Popper and indeed the study of philosophy.

In the series of posts entitled 'Right and Popper' I'll try to give a brief flavour of some of Popper's insights that I find most intriguing. As I mentioned, everything I know about Popper is based on that tiny 110 page book and hence everything I write here is in fact third-hand. While I'll endeavour to accurately represent Magee's writings, I'll also throw in a healthy dose of my own opinion and conjecture in line with that noble tradition known as 'The Blog Post'.