Pragmatic Rationalism; Popper, Bartley and varieties of rationalism

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

PhD, the Director of the Jewish Institute for Youth and Family, USA

Abstract

Rational discussion guides, but does not compel individual decisions, and the best process of inquiry and decision should vary with a person’s goals and situation. Sir Karl Popper noted that after a result of observation or experiment has been obtained by independent researchers, scientists agree to reject as false theories that are contradicted by accepted facts. Popper, though, wrongly assumed this consensus also applies to acceptance for purposes of research. In reality researchers develop competing theories about which evidence is currently in conflict, and sometimes even refuting the theories in their current form. Further, Popper asserted that only negative arguments should be used in rational inquiry. In reality, productive inquiry involves also positive arguments, even in science. Positive considerations such as which basic theories are justified by the researcher’s preferred metaphysics, or what theories in applied science are justified by existing accepted basic theories, are also used productively

Keywords

References

Agassi, J. (1975). Science in Flux, Reidel..
Bartley, W. W., III. (1962). The Retreat to Commitment. Knopf.
Berkson, W. (1974, 2014). Fields of Force: The Development of a World View from Faraday to Einstein. Routledge, reprint: Library Editions: 20th Century Science, Vol. 2. Routledge.
Berkson, W. (1978). Skeptical Rationalism, Inquiry, 22(1), 281-320.
Berkson, W. (1989). Testability in the Social Sciences, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 19(2), 157-171.
Berkson, W., & Wettersten, J. (1984). Learning from Error: Karl Popper’s Psychology of Learning. Open Court.
Goffman, E. (1986). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Touchstone.
Janis, I. (1989). Crucial Decisions: Leadership in Policymaking and Crisis Management. The Free Press, a Division of MacMillan.
Miller, D. (1983). A Pocket Popper. Fontana Paperbacks.
Popper, K. (1966). The Open Society and Its Enemies, 5th Edition. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Popper, K. (1968). The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Revised Edition. Harper Torch Books.
Popper, K. (1976). The logic of the social sciences, In The positivist dispute in German sociology, ed. T. Adorno, et al., trans. G. Adey & D. Frisby, 87–104. Harper and Row. 
Send comment about this article
CAPTCHA Image
Journal of Philosophical Investigations
Volume 17, Issue 42 - Serial Number 42
Special Issue
Special Issue: Critical Rationalism
2023
Pages 140-150

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics