Lakatos, Imre, 1970- Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmess

Contents

Editors’ introduction

Introduction: Science and pseudoscience

1. Falsification and the methodology of scientific research programmes
   1. Science: reason or religion?
   2. Fallibilism versus falsificationism
      1. Dogmatic (or naturalistic) falsificationism. The empirical basis
      2. Methodological falsificationism. The “empirical basis”
      3. Sophisticated versus naive methodological falsificationism. Progressive and degenerating problemshifts
   3. A methodology of scientific research programmes
      1. Negative heuristic: the “hard core” of the programme
      2. Positive heuristic: the construction of the “protective belt” and the relative autonomy of theoretical science
      3. Two illustrations: Prout and Bohr
      4. A new look at crucial experiments: the end of instant rationality
      5. Conclusion. The requirement of continuous growth
   4. The Popperian versus the Kuhnian research programme
2. History of science and its rational reconstructions
   1. Rival methodologies of science; rational reconstructions as guides to history
   2. Critical comparison of methodologies: history as a test of its rational reconstructions
   3. Popper on demarcation and induction
   4. (with Elie Zahar) Why did Copernicus’s research programme supersede Ptolemy’s?
   5. Newton’s effect on scientific standards

References

Lakatos bibliography

Indexes