[language] A legacy of swans left to science]

[H.M. Hubey]

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A legacy of swans left to science

He is thought of as rightwing but is Karl Popper just misunderstood?
Roger
James on the centenary of a controversial philosopher

Saturday April 27, 2002
The Guardian

Until about 30 years ago scientists mostly believed that their task was
to find
as many examples as they could to confirm their theories. Now they
realise that
they have to look for examples that are apparently inconsistent with
them. Karl
Popper is to blame, and particularly his slogan "No number of sightings
of
white swans can prove the theory that all swans are white. The sighting
of just
one black one may disprove it." Scientists now look for black swans and
if they
cannot find any, they can feel reasonably confident that their theory is
right,
although not yet proved. It is, in the present state of knowledge, the
best
approximation to the truth.

Full text
http://www.guardian.co.uk/saturday_review/story/0,3605,691156,00.html

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