Popper and the Working Scientist on Logic and Method of Science

Abstract

Popper conceives the falsificationist methodology as a bulwark against dogmatism in science and authoritarianism in politics. But the scientist in his daily work employs induction and its attendant assumptions and questions the claim that a scientist should work to falsify his theory, among other heuristic components of falsificationism. Thus, a fortuitous debate ensued between Popper and his supporters on one hand, and the working scientist and his supporters, on the other hand. The result is a rich corpus on the logic and method of science.
This essay x-rays such debate between Popper and the working scientist and, in so doing, contributes to the corpus.