Karl Popper's Science and Philosophy

Preface
Contents
Contributors
Karl Popper: His Philosophy and Science
	1 Knowledge and Criticism
		1.1 The Dangers of Dogmatism
		1.2 Criticism Needs a Boost
	2 From Demarcation to a New Concept of Reason
		2.1 Basic Statements
		2.2 Corroboration
	3 The Popperian Challenge
		3.1 Anti-Justificationist Extremism
		3.2 Scientific Practice
		3.3 New Concept of Reason
	References
Physics and Cosmology
Popper and the Quantum Controversy
	1 Introduction
	2 Popper and Quantum Mechanics
		2.1 Popper’s Early Concerns with Quantum Theory (1934)
		2.2 The Turning Point: From Philosophy to Physics (Ca. 1967–1968)
		2.3 The Mature View: Popper’s Experiment (The 1980s)
	3 Epilogue: Popper’s Legacy in Quantum Physics
		3.1 Kim and Shih, and the Real Popper Experiment
		3.2 Popper’s Ideas in Contemporary Physics: The Revival of Indeterminism
	References
Popper\'s Experiment
	References
Karl Popper and Modern Cosmology: His Thoughts and Their Impact
	1 Introduction
	2 Popper on Cosmology
		2.1 Einstein’s Influence on Popper
		2.2 Does the Universe Expand?
		2.3 Finite-Age Cosmological Models
		2.4 Against the Big Bang
	3 Cosmologists on Popper
		3.1 The Steady-State Controversy: Bondi and Popper
		3.2 Falsifiability in Modern Cosmology
		3.3 The Multiverse: Physics or Metaphysics?
		3.4 According to Popper
	4 Conclusion
	References
MOND and Methodology
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	References
The Application of Popperian Methodology to Contemporary Cosmology
	1 Introduction
	2 Metaphysical Research Programmes
		2.1 Popper’s Use of the Term “Metaphysical”
	3 Metaphysical Ideas in Contemporary Cosmology
		3.1 The Cosmological Principle as a Constituent of a MRP
		3.2 The Standard Model of Cosmology (ΛCDM) as a Metaphysical Research Programme
	4 Beyond Popper
		4.1 A Brief Outline of MOND
		4.2 The Correspondence Principle and MOND
		4.3 Truthlikeness: ΛCDM Versus MOND
	5 Conclusions
	References
Statistical Testing and Logic
Popper’s Falsification and Corroboration from the Statistical Perspectives
	1 Introduction
	2 Probability-Based Reasoning for Inductive Inference
		2.1 The Logical Probability of Pascal
		2.2 Bayesian and Fisher’s Logical Probabilities
		2.3 Laplace’s Solution to the Sunrise Problem
		2.4 Jeffreys’s Resolution
		2.5 Confirmation for General Proposition
	3 Confidence as an Alternative to Logical Probability
		3.1 Confidence Resolution of Induction Problem
	4 Extended Likelihood as Objective Logical Probability
		4.1 Postulate of Ignorance
	5 Confirmation Problems
		5.1 Bayesian Reasoning in the Conjunction Fallacy
		5.2 Likelihood Reasoning in the Conjunction Fallacy
	6 Prosecutor’s Fallacy
	7 Traces of Likelihood-Based Learning in Infants
	8 Discussion
	References
Popper on Quantification and Identity
	1 Introduction
	2 The Genesis of Popper\'s Ideas on Logic
	3 Inferential Definitions
	4 Substitution, Identity and Quantification
		4.1 Formulas, Name-Variables and Substitution
		4.2 Non-dependence, Identity and Difference
		4.3 Quantification
		4.4 An Unfortunate Misunderstanding
	5 Conclusion
	References
Logical Maximalism in the Empirical Sciences
	1 Popper’s Logical Maximalism
	2 Is Logical Maximalism Compatible with a Revision of Logic?
	3 The Abductivist Assessment to Logic
	4 Final Remarks: Critical Rationalism Versus Abductivism
	References
The Role of Logic in Science
	References
Biology
Rehabilitation of Karl Popper’s Ideas on Evolutionary Biology and the Nature of Biological Science
	1 Introduction
	2 Karl Popper and Evolutionary Biology
		2.1 Passive and Active Darwinism
		2.2 Role of Indeterminacy
	3 Can Biology Be Reduced to Chemistry?
	4 How Organisms Can Be Agents in Development and Evolution
		4.1 No Causal Closure
		4.2 The Relation of Causes Between and Within Levels of Organisation
		4.3 The Existence of Stochasticity and Its Harnessing
	5 Organisms as Open Systems
	6 Conclusions: Are Active and Passive Darwinisms Entirely Separate?
	References
Agency in Evolutionary Biology
	1 Why Does Evolutionary Biology Give a Privileged Role for DNA?
		1.1 What Is Evolutionary Biology All About?
		1.2 What Is Evolutionary Biology’s Concept of Agency?
		1.3 Why Does Evolutionary Biology Give a Privileged Role for DNA?
	2 Why Is Popper’s ‘Active Darwinism’ Problematic?
		2.1 What Is Popper’s Reading of Evolutionary Biology?
		2.2 What Is Popper’s Concept of Agency?
		2.3 Why Is Popper’s ‘Active Darwinism’ Problematic?
	3 What Was Popper’s Criticism Really About?
	4 Conclusion
	References
Popper, Darwin, and Biology
	1 Karl Popper as a Philosopher of Biology
	2 Popper’s New Interpretation of Darwinism
		2.1 Popper’s Biological Starting Points
		2.2 All Living Beings Control Their Own Evolution
		2.3 Darwinism Tries to Explain Life Away
		2.4 Natural Selection Is Not Creative
		2.5 Creative Niche-Search Instead of Deadly Competition
	3 Adaptation Is Active Knowledge Acquisition
		3.1 Not Life, Its Adaptation Is Extremely Unlikely
		3.2 There Is no Biology Without Anthropomorphisms
		3.3 Non-reducibility of Biochemistry to Physics and Chemistry
		3.4 ‘Based On’ Is an Entirely Different Story Than ‘Explained By’
		3.5 The Objective Knowledge of Cells, Plants and Animals
		3.6 Subjective and Objective Knowledge
		3.7 Popper’s Evolutionary Epistemology
		3.8 Adaptation Is Not the Ultimate Explanatory Principle of Biology
	4 A View Into the Innermost Part of Life
		4.1 The Distinction Between Information and Knowledge
		4.2 All Life Begins with Activity and Knowledge Acquisition
		4.3 We Inherit Not Only the DNA, but Above All the Cell
		4.4 Looking at Genes the Wrong Way
	5 Evolution as an Adventure of the Mind
	6 Conclusions and Consequences
		6.1 From Biological to Cosmological Evolution
		6.2 From Amoeba to Einstein
		6.3 Human Knowledge Verses Biological Knowledge
		6.4 Verification: Learning from Confirmations, not from Mistakes
		6.5 Verification Is not a Disguised Falsification
		6.6 Concluding Remark
	References
The Arkansas Creationism Trial Forty Years On
	1 Prologue
	References
Cognitive Science
Popper on the Mind-Brain Relation
	1 Introduction
	2 Background
	3 The Philosophical Landscape
	4 The Evolution Argument
	5 Popper’s Argument Against Panpsychism
	6 Problems with the Interactionist Position
	7 Popper’s New Theory of Mind
	8 The Autonomy of Forces
	9 An Interpretation of Popper’s Theory
	10 Beck’s Interpretation of Popper’s Theory
	11 Mind Affecting Probability Fields: The Microsite Hypothesis
	12 Mind Affecting Probability Fields: The Ion Channel Hypothesis
	13 Concluding Remark
	References
Karl Popper on the Evolution of Consciousness
	1 Introduction
	2 In What Sense Is Consciousness Distinct from the Brain?
	3 Does Consciousness-Brain Interaction Necessarily Violate Physical Laws?
	4 The Archaeological Implications of Popper’s (Non-dualist) Interactionist Hypothesis
	References
Popper’s Emergentism
	1 Introduction
	2 Popper’s Epistemology and His Three Worlds
	3 Creative Evolution and the Emergence of New Forms
		3.1 Novelty and Unpredictability
		3.2 Downward Causation
	4 Weak and Strong Emergentism and the Causal Closure of the Physical Domain
	5 Conclusion
	References
The Place of the Mind in Nature
	Bibliographical Note
Objective Information, Intersubjectivity, and Popper’s Three Worlds
	1 Introduction
	2 Which Information? Two Relevant Senses of ‘Information’
	3 Does Receiver-Dependent Information Undermine Scientific Objectivity?
	4 Popperian Intersubjectivity and World 3 Objectivity
	5 Applying Popperian Objectivity to Receiver-Based Information
	References
Index