L2: "Empiricism vs. Idealism"

KARL POPPER (1902-1994)

"Logical Positivism" The Vienna Circle (FREUD, WITTGENSTEIN). Attack on Empiricism. Metaphysics as "gibberish" consisting of theories that have not been verified. Rejection of DESCARTES, his Cogito branded a "non-verifiable induction". Something that cannot be proved through aposteriori reasoning.

POPPER was against the scientific process of induction. Like HUME, he saw the process of induction as "unreliable" but necessary in the quest for truth. 

"Hume has proved that pure Empiricism is not a basis for science... without the principle of induction, then science is impossible" (page 612)

In "The Open Society and it's Enemies" POPPER explains how the state should leave maximum room for self-correction in order to minimise suffering. Each law should be highly experimental. There is no 100% knowledge, therefore everything is untrue/falsifiable. Otherwise known as "The Theory of Falsification".


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"Logical Positivism" (pages 58-71)

Mathematics is necessary but tells us nothing about the world. Knowledge gained from experience. "The Verification Principle".

LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN (1889-1951)

"The word 'Philosophy' must mean something which stands above or below, but not beside the natural sciences" (page 67)

Philosophy as the rearrangement of what we already know. Its mission - to 'untie the knots in our thinking' (page 62)

Apriori Knowledge (KANT). Analytic - 'knowing how' and 'knowing what'. Knowledge based on fact which remains the same. Knowledge through "Sensory Stimuli" Matter over Mind. Anti-Cartesian.

"Tractatus" (1921). Describing the relation between language and the world. Two features:
- Linking of names to objects. LABELLING.
- Match/Mismatch of propositions to facts.

"Language-Game" (E.G Obeying and Giving Orders, Expressing Sensations, Reporting Events, Cursing and Praying) No ONE feature is essential. Language is a social, interpersonal activity.

"What WE do is to bring words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use" (page 63)

Source:
Kenny, Anthony "Philosophy in the Modern World" (2007)