Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T04:46:42.609Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Systems, Inquiry, and the Meanings of Falsification

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Ian I. Mitroff
Ian I. Mitroff*
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show that there are as many formulations of the process of falsification as there are archetypal, philosophical systems of inquiry. This paper explores several systems of inquiry which are based on Churchman's reading of the history of Western epistemology. It is argued that (1) the falsification of scientific theories can never be a purely formal process although it is perpetually open to formal exploration ; (2) that contrary to current belief, falsification can never be more certain than confirmation because falsification involves judgments which are no more certain than those involved in confirmation. The supposed asymmetry between confirmation and falsification is severely challenged. Finally, a Feyerabendian and a Hegelian notion of falsification are explicitly developed and contrasted.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , June 1973 , pp. 255 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © 1973 by The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1] Achinstein, P. et. al. “Discussion at the Conference on Correspondence Rules.” in Mininesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Vol. IV. Edited by M. Radner and S. Winokur. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1970. Pages 220–262.Google Scholar
[2] Ackoff, R. L. “Towards a System of Systems Concepts.” Management Science 17 (1971): 661–671.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[3] Barrett, R. “On the Conclusive Falsification of Scientific Hypotheses.” Philosophy of Science 36 (1969): 363–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[4] Campbell, N. R. What Is Science ? New York: Dover, 1952.Google Scholar
[5] Churchman, C. W. “The Artificiality of Science.” (A review of H. A. Simon's book, The Sciences of the Artificial.) Contemporary Psychology 15 (1970).Google Scholar
[6] Churchman, C. W. “Concepts Without Primitives.” Philosophy of Science 20 (1953): 257–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[7] Churchman, C. W. and Ackoff, R. L. “An Experimental Measure of Personality.” Philosophy of Science 14 (1947): 304–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[8] Churchman, C. W. The Design of Inquiring Systems. New York: Basic Books, 1971.Google Scholar
[9] Churchman, C. W. Challenge to Reason. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968.Google Scholar
[10] Churchman, C. W. “Kant—A Decision Theorist?” Theory and Decision 1 (1970): 107–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[11] Churchman, C. W. “Lockean Inquiring Systems.” Internal Working Paper, Space Sciences Laboratory, Social Sciences Project, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
[12] Churchman, C. W. “Operations Research as a Profession.” Management Science 17 (1970): B–37.-B-53.Google Scholar
[13] Churchman, C. W. Prediction and Optimal Decision: Philosophical Issues of a Science of Values. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1961.Google Scholar
[14] Churchman, C. W. “Rationalist Inquiring Systems.” Internal Working Paper #29 (May 1965a), University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
[15] Churchman, C. W. “Singerian Inquiring Systems.” Internal Working Paper #122 (October 1970b), University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
[16] Churchman, C. W. Theory of Experimental Inference. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1948.Google Scholar
[17] Churchman, C. W. “On Whole Systems.” Internal Working Paper #31 (May, 1965b), Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
[18] Cowan, T. A. “Experience and Experiment.” Philosophy of Science 26 (1959): 77–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[19] Duhem, P. The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[20] Feigl, Herbert. “The ‘Orthodox’ View of Theories: Remarks in Defense as well as Critique.” in Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Vol. IV. Edited by M. Radner and S. Winokur. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1970. Pages 3–16.Google Scholar
[21] Feyerabend, P. “Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge.” in Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Vol. IV. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1970. Pages 17–130.Google Scholar
[22] Feyerabend, P. K. “On the Improvement of the Sciences and Arts and the Possible Identity of the Two.” in Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Edited by Cohen, R. S. and Wartofsky, M. W. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel, 1967. Pages 387–415.Google Scholar
[23] Feyerabend, P. “Problems of Empiricism.” in Beyond the Edge of Certainty. Edited by Colodny, R. G. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1965. Pages 145–260.Google Scholar
[24] Feyerabend, P. K. “Problems of Empiricism, Part II.” in The Nature and Function of Scientific Theories. Edited by Colodny, R. G. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1970. Pages 275–354.Google Scholar
[25] Friedman, N. The Social Nature of Psychological Research: The Psychological Experiment as a Social Interaction. New York: Basic Books, 1967.Google Scholar
[26] Grünbaum, A. Philosophical Problems of Space and Time. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1963.Google Scholar
[27] Hanson, N. R. “Observation and Interpretation.” in Philosophy of Science Today. Edited by Morgenbesser, S. New York: Basic Books, 1967. Pages 68–78.Google Scholar
[28] Hanson, N. R. Patterns of Discovery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965.Google Scholar
[29] Hanson, N. R. Perception and Discovery. San Francisco: Freeman, Cooper, 1969.Google Scholar
[30] Hanson, N. R. “A Picture Theory of Meaning.” in Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Vol. IV. Edited by M. Radner and S. Winokur. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1970. Pages 131–140.Google Scholar
[31] Helmer, O. and Rescher, N. “On the Epistemology of the Inexact Sciences.” Management Science 6 (1959): 25–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[32] Hesse, M. “Is there an Independent Observation Language?” in The Nature and Function of Scientific Theories. Edited by Colodny, Robert G. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1970. Pages 35–78.Google Scholar
[33] Hitt, W. “Two Models of Man.” American Psychologist (1969).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[34] Hudson, L. Contrary Imaginations. New York: Schocken Books, 1966.Google Scholar
[35] Hudson, L. (ed.). The Ecology of Human Intelligence. Middlesex: Penguin, 1970.Google Scholar
[36] Hudson, L. Frames of Mind. New York: W. W. Norton, 1968.Google Scholar
[37] Kaplan, A. The Conduct of Inquiry. San Francisco: Chandler, 1964.Google Scholar
[38] Krikorian, Y. H. “Singer's Philosophy of Experimentalism.” Philosophy of Science 29 (1962): 81–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[39] Krippendorf, K. “Reliability of Recording Instructions: Multi-variate Agreement for Nominal Data.” Behavioral Science 16 (1971): 228–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[40] Kuhn, T. S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962.Google Scholar
[41] Laudan, L. “On the Impossibility of Crucial Falsifying Experience: Grünbaum on ‘The Duhemian Argument’.” Philosophy of Science 32 (1965).Google Scholar
[42] Luce, D. and Raiffa, H. Games and Decisions. New York: Wiley, 1958.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[43] McClelland, D. C. “On the Dynamics of Creative Physical Scientists.” in The Ecology of Human Intelligence. Edited by Hudson, Liam. Middlesex: Penguin, 1970. Pages 309–341.Google Scholar
[44] Margolis, J. “Notes on Feyerabend and Hanson.” in Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Vol IV. Edited by M. Radner and S. Winokur. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1970. Pages 193–195.Google Scholar
[45] Mason, R. O. “A Dialectical Approach to Strategic Planning.” Management Science 15 (1969): B–403–B-414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[46] Mitroff, I.I. “A Communication Model of Dialectical Inquiring Systems—A Strategy for Strategic Planning.” Management Science 17 (1971): B-634–B-648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[47] Mitroff, I. I. and Betz, F. “Dialectical Decision Theory: A Meta-Theory of Decision Making.” Management Science (1971a). (to appear)Google Scholar
[48] Mitroff, I. I. “Epistemology as a Basis for Building a Generalized Model of General Policy-Sciences Models.” Management Science. Special issue on “The Philosophy of Science of Management Science.” (1971b). (to appear)Google Scholar
[49] Mitroff, I. I. “On the Methodology of the Holistic Experiment.” Management Science, (1971c). (to appear)Google Scholar
[50] Mitroff, I. I. “Methodological Advances in the Behavioral Sciences and The Value-Neutrality Thesis.” Methodology and Science.Google Scholar
[51] Mitroff, I. I. “The Myth of Objectivity or Why Science Needs a New Psychology of Science.” Special Issue of Management Science. Edited by C. W. Churchman. (to appear)Google Scholar
[52] Mitroff, I. I. “A Systems Approach for the Analyses and Design of Stimuli, Responses and Experiments.” (Paper submitted to Behavioral Science.)Google Scholar
[53] Popper, K. “Normal Science and its Dangers.” in Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Edited by Lakatos, I. and Musgrave, A. E. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970. Pages 51–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[54] Popper, K. The Poverty of Htstoricism. New York: Harper, 1961.Google Scholar
[55] Quinn, P. “The Status of the D-Thesis.” Philosophy of Science 36 (1969): 381–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[56] Ravetz, J. R. Scientific Knowledge and Its Social Problems. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.Google Scholar
[57] Rescher, N. “The Ethical Dimension of Scientific Research.” in Beyond the Edge of Certainty. Edited by Colodny, R. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1965. Pages 261–278.Google Scholar
[58] Rose, A. “The Relation of Theory and Method.” in Sociological Theory. New York: Harper and Row, 1967.Google Scholar
[59] Simon, H. A. The Sciences of the Artificial. Cambridge, Massachusetts: M.I.T. Press, 1969.Google Scholar
[60] Singer, E. A. Experience and Reflection. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1959.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[61] Singer, E. A. “Mechanism, Vitalism, and Naturalism.” Philosophy of Science 13 (1946): 81–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[62] Singer, E. A. Mind as Behavior: Studies in Empirical Idealism. Columbus: R. G. Adams and Company, 1923.Google Scholar
[63] Singer, E. A. Modern Thinkers and Present Problems. New York: Holt, 1923.Google Scholar
[64] Singer, E. A. “On the Conscious Mind.” The Journal of Philosophy 26 (1929): 561–575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[65] Turoff, M. “Delphi Conferencing.” Technical Memorandum TM-125, Office of the Assistant Director for Resource Analysis, U.S. Govt. (March, 1971).Google Scholar
[66] Walberg, H. J. “A Portrait of the Artist and Scientist as Young Men.” Exceptional Children 36 (1969): 5–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[67] Wedeking, G. “Duhem, Quinn, and Grünbaum on Falsification.” Philosophy of Science 36 (1969): 375–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[68] Ziman, J. Public Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968.Google Scholar