POPPER THEORY

According to Popper, theory

always precedes observation:

even in any alleged

"empirical" and "inductive"

approach, the human mind

unconsciously tends to

superimpose its own mental

schemes on the observed

reality. What is often passed off

 as "induction" is, in reality, a

deduction, for it is always

constructed a priori; induction

is only its negative limit, and

serves not to build but to

demolish.

Popper, thus,

replaces the

idea of a

science based
 on the pure

routine of

enumeration,

with the

concept of

science made

of dar- ing

conjectures

and a

continuous
 search for

error, in view

of the truth,

which remains

a regulative

ideal.

In the

contemporary

epistemo-

logical debate
 on induction,

the

reflection of

mereologist

Nelson

The astronaut both in free

Bruce fall.

McCandle

ss and

Earth are
 Goodman

takes the

room: scien-

tific

knowledge

does not

consist in
 passive observation, rather in constructive

activity.

Such is expressed by the writing of a

schematic and selective map of reality,

obtained by induction.

Effective practice, as it has historically

developed, corroborates the value of a

hypothesis. The validity of induction is

therefore not based on its logical validity

(as Aristotle argued), nor on its conformity

to the nature of the human mind (as David

Hume argued), rather on common truth

(as Socrates, the founder of inductivism

firstly maintained).

Its justifiability or sustainability shapes

over time, so as to answer the questions

posed by a specific human community.

Why we yawn, laugh or age is still

unknown.