Sir Karl Popper's Falsifiability Claim

Sir Karl Popper's Falsifiability Claim

Popper asserts that "it is easy to obtain confirmations, or verifications, for nearly every theory--if we look for confirmations." Kuhn illustrates (page 6), in his discussion of cosmologies, that man needs a structure for his universe. Man needs to explain the physical relation between his personal habitat and nature in order to feel at home. Explaining this relation gives meaning to his actions.

Moreover, Kuhn says observation is a double edged sword (page 7). This sword can confirm or conflict with cosmology which can destroy the theory. Kuhn discusses the astronomer (page 7), who because of his own world view (via his specialty) will not verify Milton's image of the Milky Way as being broad and ample or Shakespeare's vision of stars as night candles. Those descriptions don't tell the astronomer how far away the Milky Way, the Sun or Jupiter happen to be.

Observations (page 26) are only clues to a mystery. The schema created by the observer can affect the results. "Therefore, observations like those discussed in the preceding sections could be collected and put in systematic form by men whose beliefs about the structure of the universe resembled those of the ancient Egyptians" (page 26).

Kuhn discusses the functions of a conceptual scheme (page 36). He indicates that a theory deriving from observations can also transcend them. Kuhn says that since the two sphere universe is based on the human imagination of the obser...