Science Essays
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(a) The theories of science by Karl Popper argue that it is dangerous to believe in normal science. Popper believed it was dangerous to believe the generalizations and theories of normal science were factual or true because believing so would be to go against the very nature of science in his view. Popper believed that is was impossible to prove something was true or factual about the real world. For instance, science often makes generalizations which come to be accepted as truth or factual, like gravity affecting all matter, water freezes at 32 degrees centigrade, or all plants need get energy from sun. However, if we view these statements as true we run the risk or danger of believing they are facts. In reality, none of these statements can be proven as truth. For instance, we have not observed all matter, we have not boiled all water and we might not know of some plants that don’t get their energy from the sun because we have not come across them as of yet.Therefore, Popper believes that the traditional positivist view of science is incorrect. We run the danger of making sweeping generalizations if we decided that from our limited observations something is truth or fact. In reality, he felt science worked in an opposite fashion. He did not believe science believes in generalizations because they observe phenomena that verifies the generalization, but he believed that the generalizations come to be accepted as truth because there are no ph
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tle camp that believes and operates in one manner, a manner which they are loathe to go against because they have invested so much time, energy and other resources in their already held conceptions.
(c) I believe skepticism can be avoided somewhat by Popper’s theories of science, but I also believe it engenders skepticism as well. I believe it eliminates skepticism to a degree because if we do not hold that our generalizations are fact, merely truths that have not been proven untrue through falsifiable phenomena, then we always have the hope and optimism that there may be more answers, different answers and even higher understanding than we possess at any given time. In this manner we do not have to take a dour outlook on the world because we can be skeptical about even those generalizations that are commonly accepted as true. On the other hand, Popper’s views do promote a certain degree of skepticism because it implies that we cannot arrive at ultimate or absolute truths because whatever we hold or generalize to be true may only be so because we have not yet discovered phenomena that would falsify it. In this manner, we see a great deal of limitation on what we can known and how we may come to know it. However, it is a heal
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Approximate Word count = 3209
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)
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