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no matter how many instances of white swans we may have observed, this does not justify the conclusion that all swans are white.

Karl Popper

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Karl Popper
Age: 92 †
Born: 1902
Born: July 28
Died: 1994
Died: September 17
Philosopher
Philosopher Of Science
Sociologist
University Teacher
Writer
Vienna
Austria
Karl Raimund Popper Sir
Karl Raimund
Sir Popper
Sir Karl Raimund Popper
Justify
Conclusion
Instance
White
Doe
Swans
May
Instances
Matter
Observed
Many

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The influence (for good or ill) of Plato's work is immeasurable. Western thought, one might say, has been Platonic or anti-Platonic, but hardly ever non-Platonic.
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Every genuine test of a theory is an attempt to falsify it, or to refute it.
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True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it.
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There is no history, only histories.
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No book can ever be finished. While working on it we learn just enough to find it immature the moment we turn away from it
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No particular theory may ever be regarded as absolutely certain.... No scientific theory is sacrosanct.
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A system is empirical or scientific only if it is capable of being tested by experience. These considerations suggest that not the verifiability but the falsifiability of a system is to be taken as a criterion of demarcation... It must be possible for an empirical or scientific system to be refuted by experience.
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While differing widely in the various little bits we know, in our infinite ignorance we are all equal.
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Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths.
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The use of violence is justified only under a tyranny which makes reforms without violence impossible, and should have only one aim, that is, to bring about a state of affairs which makes reforms without violence possible.
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The old scientific ideal of episteme - of absolutely certain, demonstrable knowledge - has proved to be an idol. The demand for scientific objectivity makes it inevitable that every scientific statement must remain tentative for ever.
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The conspiracy theory of society... comes from abandoning god and then asking: Who is in his place
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. . . it seems to me certain that more people are killed out of righteous stupidity than out of wickedness.
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The survival value of intelligence is that it allows us to extinct a bad idea, before the idea extincts us.
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A theory that explains everything, explains nothing
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Some scientists find, or so it seems, that they get their best ideas when smoking others by drinking coffee or whisky. Thus there is no reason why I should not admit that some may get their ideas by observing, or by repeating observations.
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The history of science is everywhere speculative. It is a marvelous hiatory. It makes you proud to be a human being.
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But some of these theories are so bold that they can clash with reality: they are the testable theories of science. And when they clash, then we know that there is a reality something that can inform us that our ideas are mistaken.
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We do not know. We can only guess.
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