Imre Lakatos
hallmark science kuhn popper pseudoscience progress
“What, then, is the hallmark of science? Do we have to capitulate and agree that a scientific revolution is just an irrational change in commitment, that it is a religious conversion? Tom Kuhn, a distinguished American philosopher of science, arrived at this conclusion after discovering the naivety of Popper’s falsificationism. But if Kuhn is right, then there is no explicit demarcation between science and pseudoscience, no distinction between scientific progress and intellectual decay, there is no objective standard of honesty. But what criteria can he then offer to demarcate scientific progress from intellectual degeneration?”
― Imre Lakatos (1922-1974)
law nature fact logic theory
“One can today easily demonstrate that there can be no valid derivation of a law of nature from any finite number of facts; but we still keep reading about scientific theories being proved from facts. Why this stubborn resistance to elementary logic?”
― Imre Lakatos (1922-1974)
commitment theory intellectual virtue crime
"Blind commitment to a theory is not an intellectual virtue: it is an intellectual crime."
― Imre Lakatos (1922-1974)
social science judge theory number supporter truth power
"If even in science there is no a way of judging a theory but by assessing the number, faith and vocal energy of its supporters, then this must be even more so in the social sciences: truth lies in power."
― Imre Lakatos (1922-1974)
philosophy history science empty blind
"Philosophy of science without history of science is empty; history of science without philosophy of science is blind."
― Imre Lakatos (1922-1974)
falsification emergence better theory
"There is no falsification before the emergence of a better theory."
― Imre Lakatos (1922-1974)
einstein turn table scientific proven knowledge
"Einstein's results again turned the tables and now very few philosophers or scientists still think that scientific knowledge is, or can be, proven knowledge."
― Imre Lakatos (1922-1974)
man respect knowledge latin scientia respectable
"Man's respect for knowledge is one of his most peculiar characteristics. Knowledge in Latin is scientia, and science came to be the name of the most respectable kind of knowledge."
― Imre Lakatos (1922-1974)
belief biological weakness criticism commitment crime popper
"Belief may be a regrettably unavoidable biological weakness to be kept under the control of criticism: but commitment is for Popper an outright crime."
― Imre Lakatos (1922-1974)
degree commitment belief make knowledge
"No degree of commitment to beliefs makes them knowledge."
― Imre Lakatos (1922-1974)
hallmark scientific behaviour scepticism cherished theory
"The hallmark of scientific behaviour is a certain scepticism even towards one’s most cherished theories."
― Imre Lakatos (1922-1974)
statistical social sciences phony corroboration pseudo-intellect
"One wonders whether the function of statistical techniques in the social sciences is not primarily to provide a machinery for producing phoney corroborations and thereby a semblance of ‘scientific progress’ where, in fact, there is nothing but an increase in pseudo-intellectual garbage. …"
― Imre Lakatos (1922-1974)