In existographies, Karl Popper (1902-1994) (IQ:165|#280) (RGM:1182|1,500+) (Stokes 100:94) (GPhE:25) (CR:25) was an Austrian-born English philosopher, noted for his 1919 falsifiability model of good science, according to which to know if something is true or not, e.g. a new theory like relativity, there must be a way to test it, e.g. measure during an eclipse if the mass of the sun bends light, and for his latter discussions on the arrow of time in relation to entropy as well as his critique on general laws of science. “'When should a theory be ranked as scientific?' or 'Is there a criterion for the scientific character or status of a theory?' The problem which troubled me at the time was neither, 'When is a theory true?' nor, 'When is a theory acceptable?' My problem was different. I wished to distinguish between science and pseudo-science; knowing very well that science often errs, and that pseudo-science may happen to stumble on the truth.”
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| A summary of Arthur Eddington's 29 May 1919 solar eclipse expedition, which confirmed Einstein's relativity-based theory that mass bends or makes a spacetime warp around it, and hence a large mass will bend light; this became the basis of Popper's "falsifiability" ideology of knowledge. |
“Parmenides’ theory may be described as the first hypothetico-deductive theory of the world. The atomists took it as such; and they asserted that it was refined by experience, since motion does exist. Accepting the formal validity of Parmenides’ argument, they inferred from the falsity of his conclusion the falsity of his premise. But this meant that the nothing — the void, or empty space — existed. Consequently, there was now no need to assume that ‘what is’ — the full, that which fills some space — had no parts; for its parts could now be separated by the void.”— Karl Popper (1958), “Back to the Presocratics” [7]
