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Re: [ontolog-forum] brainwaves (WAS: to concept or not to concept, is th

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Ingvar Johansson <ingvar.johansson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:59:55 +0100
Message-id: <475D546B.8040200@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
paola.dimaio@xxxxxxxxx schrieb:
> I'd be interested to read the thing, but would prefer an online version
>  what about publishing your work on a website?    (01)

I'll think about. It was written before the computer revolution, and I 
have so far not found reason to scan it.    (02)

/Ingvar    (03)

>
> I use www.wikispaces.com <http://www.wikispaces.com>
> cheers
> PDM
>
> On Dec 10, 2007 9:04 PM, Ingvar Johansson 
> <ingvar.johansson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> <mailto:ingvar.johansson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>
>     paola.dimaio@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:paola.dimaio@xxxxxxxxx> schrieb:
>     > John
>     >
>     > Thanks for the neat explanation
>     >
>     > I think I may have given the wrong impression - I am sure there
>     is a value
>     > in falsifiablity,
>     >
>     > I also agree that QM  (quantum mysticism) is often dangerously
>     > purported as 'science', when it is not
>     >
>     > However  a lot of science is also dangerously sold as 'science',
>     when
>     > it is not
>     >
>     > Science today should know better.....
>     >
>     >
>     > cf -
>     >
>     > Robert Crease
>     >
>     > Popper's principle is beloved by crusaders against junk- and
>     > pseudo-science, for it simplifies demarcation. But, however
>     attractive
>     > Popper's falsifiability principle might sound, it is not good
>     > philosophy of science.
>
>     I came to the same conclusion in my PhD-thesis, "A Critique of Karl
>     Popper's Methodology" (Scandinavian University Press 1975). As I
>     say on
>     my home page: I send the book for free to everyone who has the
>     intention
>     to read some parts of it. In the book I sort all of Popper's
>     methodological rules into six groups, which I then discuss and dismiss
>     one by one. Kuhn, Feyerabend, and Lakatos are also discussed; one
>     chapter for each.
>
>     However, the fact that Popper's methodological rules do not stand
>     up to
>     scrutiny should by no means be allowed to hide the positive side of
>     Popper's thinking around science. First, he has very good arguments in
>     favor of epistemological fallibilism that are independent of his bad
>     methodological rules. Second, he has made explicit the notion of
>     'truthlikeness', which is needed in order to make semantic sense of
>     fallibilism. Popper thought wrongly that he was the first great
>     thinker
>     to propound fallibilism (Peirce had done this before him). But, as
>     far
>     as I know, he can really boast of being the first who has really
>     discussed the notion of truthlikeness.
>
>     Best,
>     Ingvar J
>
>     PS. If I should re-write my dissertation today, I should discuss
>     Popper's methodological rules two times. First as compeletely general
>     rules (which I have done, and this is the way Popper intended
>     them); and
>     second as default rules (as such some of them have some credence).
>     Also,
>     I should add my paper "Ceteris paribus Clauses, Closure Clauses, and
>     Falsifiability" (1980; linked to my home site).
>
>
>     > http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/16478
>     >
>     >
>     > Paul Newell
>     > http://www.galilean-library.org/falsificationism.html
>     >
>     > In summary, then, falsificationism in its various forms is an
>     > interesting idea but insufficient either to characterise science or
>     > solve the demarcation problem
>     > <http://www.galilean-library.org/lakatos.html
>     <http://www.galilean-library.org/lakatos.html>>. It suffers from a
>     > series of logical and philosophical difficulties that should perhaps
>     > give us pause if hoping to find a single answer to what makes good
>     > science and what does not.
>     >
>     >
>     > lots of others, including yours humble
>     >
>     >
>     > On Dec 10, 2007 6:02 PM, John F. Sowa <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>     > <mailto:sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>>> wrote:
>     >
>     >     Paola,
>     >
>     >     Falsifiability is part of Popper's philosophy of science,
>     and most
>     >     people consider it a good approach to testing a theory.  The
>     logical
>     >     positivists were originally opposed to it because they had
>     proposed
>     >     verifiability as their criterion.  But Popper merely pointed
>     out that
>     >     it is extremely difficult and, in most cases, impossible to
>     show that
>     >     a true hypothesis is absolutely true.  However, it's much
>     easier to
>     >     show that a false one is false.
>     >
>     >      > I was referring to 'falsifiability' as regarded by some
>     as an
>     >      > essential requirement for an experiment to be scientifically
>     >     valid,
>     >      > and as totally absurd by others, especially in the light
>     of quantum
>     >      > theory, where the same conditions are likely never to be
>     repeatable
>     >      > in an experiment. I am interested opinions on
>     falsifiability btw -
>     >
>     >     Falsifiability is not a property of an experiment, but of a
>     >     hypothesis,
>     >     and it's just as applicable to quantum mechanics as it is to
>     auto
>     >     mechanics, cooking, or any other subject.
>     >
>     >     The basic idea is very simple.  Just take any sample hypothesis:
>     >
>     >        All crows are black.
>     >
>     >     To verify this statement, it would be necessary to check
>     every crow
>     >     that exists.  If you miss a single one, it's conceivable
>     that you
>     >     overlooked the crucial crow that makes the statement false.
>     >
>     >     But to show that the statement is false, you don't have to
>     check
>     >     every one.  You can stop at the first crow that is not black.
>     >     If many people search far and wide without finding a non-black
>     >     crow, that gives some assurance that the hypothesis is fairly
>     >     reliable.  (But no empirical theory can be absolutely certain.)
>     >
>     >     A theory that states probabilities, such as quantum mechanics,
>     >     is no different in principle.  QM, for example, might predict
>     >     a probability distribution for some observation.  To test it,
>     >     just perform several experiments to see how close the observed
>     >     values are to the expected distribution.  If you repeatedly
>     >     get a very different distribution, that shows the hypothesis
>     >     is false (or perhaps, your equipment or procedure is bad).
>     >
>     >     That is all there is to 'falsifiability'.  It is just a rather
>     >     obvious point.  However, Popper went on to say that it provides
>     >     a criterion for good science:  A theory should be stated so
>     >     precisely that it suggests easy experiments for testing whether
>     >     the theory is false.  If a lot of very knowledgeable people try
>     >     as hard as they can to show it is false but fail, then the
>     theory
>     >     is fairly reliable.
>     >
>     >     Quality control inspectors do the same thing for testing any
>     kind
>     >     of product, ranging from cars and computers to dresses and pies:
>     >     search for possible flaws that would make it a bad example.  If
>     >     they can't find any, that doesn't prove there are no flaws, but
>     >     it provides some assurance that it's fairly good.
>     >
>     >     And by the way, Peirce made very similar remarks about 50 years
>     >     before Popper, but he didn't use the word 'falsifiability'.
>     >
>     >     John
>     >
>     >
>     >    
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>     >
>     >
>     > --
>     > Paola Di Maio
>     > School of IT
>     > www.mfu.ac.th <http://www.mfu.ac.th> < http://www.mfu.ac.th>
>     > *********************************************
>     >
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>     --
>     Ingvar Johansson
>     IFOMIS, Saarland University
>         home site: http://ifomis.org/
>         personal home site:
>         http://hem.passagen.se/ijohansson/index.html
>
>
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> -- 
> Paola Di Maio
> School of IT
> www.mfu.ac.th <http://www.mfu.ac.th>
> *********************************************
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>       (04)


-- 
Ingvar Johansson
IFOMIS, Saarland University
     home site: http://ifomis.org/
     personal home site:
     http://hem.passagen.se/ijohansson/index.html      (05)



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