Philosophy of Science: Kuhn’s Paradigm Revolutions, Popper’s Falsificationism, and the Nature of Scientific Knowledge
Philosophy of Science studies science’s methodological foundations, the nature of scientific theories, the structure of scientific explanation, and the legitimacy of scientific knowledge. **The Problem of Induction** is a foundational difficulty: science depends on generalizing from particular observations to universal laws (inductive reasoning), but this has no logical guarantee — observing however many white swans cannot logically prove “all swans are white” (David Hume first clearly articulated this).
## Popper’s Falsificationism
Karl Popper’s (1902–1994) **Falsificationism** responds to the induction problem: the mark of a scientific theory is not how well it’s confirmed but **Falsifiability** — a theory must make specific, in-principle experientially refutable predictions. “Tomorrow may or may not rain” is not a scientific claim (no result can falsify it); Einstein’s relativity predicted light bends near massive objects — a prediction in principle falsifiable; the 1919 solar eclipse observation confirmed it, but could have refuted the theory.
Popper thereby criticized Freudian psychoanalysis (any result can be “explained” within the framework) and Marxism (historical prophecies evade falsification through adjustments) as non-scientific.
## Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Kuhn’s *The Structure of Scientific Revolutions* (1962) transformed science history and philosophy. **Paradigm**: the theoretical framework, methodological standards, and worldview presuppositions a scientific community collectively accepts in a given period — geocentric and heliocentric paradigms, Newtonian mechanics and relativity/quantum mechanics paradigms. **Normal Science**: puzzle-solving within a paradigm, not questioning the paradigm itself. **Scientific Revolution**: when anomalies accumulate beyond current paradigm resolution, a **paradigm shift** occurs — old and new paradigms exhibit **Incommensurability**, making the new paradigm not fully understandable through old concepts.
