The nature of science is a complete matter that many individuals have attempted to explain. One such person was Karl Popper, a philosopher of science who proposed a way to demarcate science and pseudoscience (Mitra, 2020). When studying at the University of Vienna, Popper examined Freudian and Marxian theories alongside Einstein’s theory of relativity and determined that the latter had an “intrinsic risk” that could cause potential falsification (Mitra, 2020, p. 2). Consequently, Popper suggested that falsifiability could be used as the benchmark to distinguish science from non-science (Mitra, 2020). Popper’s principle of demarcation represents his understanding of the specifics of science and is a topic for a broad discourse.
To comprehend the significance of Popper’s principle, one must analyze the philosopher’s logic. Popper stated that problems generate scientific theories, which aim for satisfactory explanations that come in a dialectic manner (Onebunne & Umeogu, 2022). Consequently, he declared that people make testable conjectures that can be refuted to formulate new ones, meaning that hypotheses are scientific when they are falsifiable (Koskinen & Rolin, 2022; Onebunne & Umeogu, 2022). As a result, Popper’s principle has started many controversial discussions. For instance, Fernandez-Beanato (2020) proposes that falsifiability as a criterion is likely to be too weak or overly strong and is not a necessary condition. Accordingly, although Popper has provided an explanation for his declaration, his proclamation is being argued nowadays.
To conclude, Karl Popper’s demarcation principle is based on the purpose of scientific theories. The philosopher suggested that falsifiability can be considered a sufficient benchmark to differentiate science from non-science. Although Popper has presented a thorough explication of his principle based on his investigation of other theories, thus offering a better understanding of science, his declaration has raised many discussions, some of which are contradictory.
References
Fernandez-Beanato, D. (2020). The multicriterial approach to the problem of demarcation. Journal for General Philosophy of Science, 51(3), 375-390. Web.
Koskinen, I., & Rolin, K. (2022). Distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate roles for values in transdisciplinary research. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 91, 191-198. Web.
Mitra, S. (2020). An analysis of the falsification criterion of Karl Popper: A critical review. Tattva Journal of Philosophy, 12(1), 1-18. Web.
Onebunne, C. K., & Umeogu, B. (2022). Understanding Popper’s conception of science through critical analysis of his key concepts. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 20(2), 85-100.