A note on verisimilitude and relativization to problems

Erkenntnis 33 (3):391-396 (1990)
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Abstract

This note aims at critically assessing a little-noticed proposal made by Popper in the second edition of "Objective Knowledge" to the effect that verisimilitude of scientific theories should be made relative to the problems they deal with. Using a simple propositional calculus formalism, it is shown that the "relativized" definition fails for the very same reason why Popper's original concept of verisimilitude collapsed -- only if one of two theories is true can they be compared in terms of the suggested definition of verisimilitude.

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Author's Profile

Philippe Mongin
Last affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Citations of this work

Survey article. Verisimilitude: the third period.Ilkka Niiniluoto - 1998 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 49 (1):1-29.
Approaching Truth by Resolving Questions.Jakob Süskind - forthcoming - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.

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References found in this work

Objective knowledge: an evolutionary approach.Karl Raimund Popper - 1972 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Popper’s qualitative theory of verisimilitude.David Miller - 1974 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 25 (2):166-177.
On Popper's definitions of verisimilitude.Pavel Tichý - 1974 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 25 (2):155-160.
A note on verisimilitude.Karl Popper - 1976 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 27 (2):147-159.

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