The Main Features of Critical Rationalism

Subject Areas : Philosophy

مریم  عسگرپورعلی ¹ (ندارد)
مجید  اکبری ² (ندارد)

Received: 2009-09-14 Accepted : 2011-03-05 Published : 2010-03-21

Keywords: Critical Rationalism, refutation, conjecture, Truth, Knowledge, Justification,

Abstract :

In history of ideas, although traditional rationalists used reason andreasoning to justify any claim (hypothesis, theory, and…), Popper andhis pupils, as critical rationalists, emphasis on falsifying any. Criticalrationalists believe that human knowledge is fallible; and thisknowledge not only can’t fulfill any justification, but also need to noone. For human knowledge is fallible and confined, critical rationalistsrelay on rationality to the extent that it help us to detect our errors andfailures. According to critical rationalists, critical method is merely tocriticize all of ideas, beliefs, and etc. unstoppably in order to reveal theprobable, tacit faults. Scientific theories, in their view, are daringconjectures which come from encountering with problems; theseconjectures are not justifiable and must be falsifiable (and thereforerefutable) through severe test. The refutation to old theory is theparamount process of scientific discovery. If any new theory survivemore of such refutations, it would have a higher verisimilitude andtherefore, critical rationalists suggest that it is closer to truth. So criticalrationalists have exposed some innovations in philosophy of science,but there are a few critiques which they are (or should be) going to dealwith.