Karl Popper argued in 1974 that evolutionary theory contains no testable laws and is therefore a metaphysical research program. Four years later, he said that he had changed his mind. Here we seek to understand Popper’s initial position and his subsequent retraction. We argue, contrary to Popper’s own assessment, that he did not change his mind at all about the substance of his original claim. We also explore how Popper’s views have ramifications for contemporary discussion of the nature of laws and the structure of evolutionary theory.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Chapter
Zachos, Frank;
(2002)
Karl Popper und die Biologie: Zur Falsifizierbarkeit der Evolutionshypothese und der Selektionstheorie
(/isis/citation/CBB000500676/)
Book
Hans-Joachim Niemann;
(2014)
Karl Popper and the Two New Secrets of Life: Including Karl Popper's Medawar Lecture 1986 and Three Related Texts
(/isis/citation/CBB280217713/)
Book
Hark, Michael ter;
(2004)
Popper, Otto Selz and the Rise of Evolutionary Epistemology
(/isis/citation/CBB000550081/)
Article
Nanay, Bence;
(2011)
Popper's Darwinian Analogy
(/isis/citation/CBB001034587/)
Book
Lube, Manfred;
(2005)
Karl R. Popper Bibliographie, 1925--2004: Wissenschaftstheorie, Sozialphilosophie, Logik, Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie, Naturwissenschaften
(/isis/citation/CBB000641728/)
Article
Rowbottom, Darrell P.;
(2011)
Kuhn Vs. Popper on Criticism and Dogmatism in Science: A Resolution at the Group Level
(/isis/citation/CBB001024146/)
Article
Vecchi, Davide;
Baravalle, Lorenzo;
(2015)
A Soul of Truth in Things Erroneous: Popper's “Amateurish” Evolutionary Philosophy in Light of Contemporary Biology
(/isis/citation/CBB001510254/)
Article
Kragh, Helge;
(2013)
“The Most Philosophically Important of All the Sciences”: Karl Popper and Physical Cosmology
(/isis/citation/CBB001320398/)
Article
Khaitun, S. D.;
(2011)
Popper's Conclusion on the Possible Refutation of Any Scientific Theory: Lessons for History of Science from Twentieth-Century Philosophical Developments
(/isis/citation/CBB001211403/)
Article
Kragh, Helge;
(2013)
“The Most Philosophically Important of All the Sciences”: Karl Popper and Physical Cosmology
(/isis/citation/CBB001213904/)
Chapter
Nye, Mary Jo;
(2010)
Science and Politics in the Philosophy of Science: Popper, Kuhn, and Polanyi
(/isis/citation/CBB001023240/)
Article
Hayes, Peter;
(2010)
Popper's Response to Dingle on Special Relativity and the Problem of the Observer
(/isis/citation/CBB001024229/)
Chapter
Freudenthal, Gad;
(2009)
“Instrumentalism” and “Realism” as Categories in the History of Astronomy: Duhem vs. Popper, Maimonides vs. Gersonides
(/isis/citation/CBB001032111/)
Book
Jeremy Shearmur;
Geoffrey Stokes;
(2016)
The Cambridge Companion to Popper
(/isis/citation/CBB403187266/)
Book
Nola, Robert;
Sankey, Howard;
(2000)
After Popper, Kuhn and Feyerabend: Recent Issues in Theories of Scientific Method
(/isis/citation/CBB000110543/)
Book
Jarvie, Ian C.;
(2001)
The Republic of Science: The Emergence of Popper's Social View of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000502461/)
Article
Sovacool, Benjamin;
(2005)
Falsification and Demarcation in Astronomy and Cosmology
(/isis/citation/CBB000502435/)
Article
Jha, Stefania R.;
(2006)
Hungarian Studies in Lakatos' Philosophies of Mathematics and Science---Editor's Introduction
(/isis/citation/CBB000720082/)
Article
Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg;
(2012)
A Plea for a Historical Epistemology of Research
(/isis/citation/CBB001252365/)
Article
Bence Nanay;
(2017)
What Did Popper Learn from Lakatos?
(/isis/citation/CBB281981491/)
VIET: Voprosy Istorii Estestvoznaniia i Tekhniki
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Journal for General Philosophy of Science
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Be the first to comment!