The Principles Of Empirical Science - 1108 Words

One of the key principles in empirical science is distinguishing whether incoming novel theories are actually scientific or non-scientific. This is referred to as the problem of demarcation. Many different ideas have been proposed in response to this problem in order to demarcate theories and amongst some of the most well-known ones are those of Rudolph Carnap and Karl Popper. Carnap proposes that theories be declared scientific based on whether they can be tested, at least in principle, and labels this his verification criteria. Popper’s method is based on whether a theory has empirical content which is the set of all possible excluded events proposed by a theory. The question is, is it possible to agree with both of these criteria? This†¦show more content†¦Let us examine a logical case where Carnap and Popper would disagree. Consider the statement, ‘The sun will either rise or not rise tomorrow.’ According to Carnap, this is a scientific theory since i t can be tested quite easily. While according to Popper, this theory does not forbid anything from happening, that is to say that it has no empirical content, so it is deemed unscientific. The sun could not rise and be replaced with another celestial body and the theory would still be scientific according to Carnap’s criteria. Now, let us consider an example from history. The Miasma theory of disease was the prevalent theory explaining the spread of disease in much of the 19th century until it was superseded by the Germ theory of disease [1]. The theory states that disease is spread from a poisonous miasma emanating from various sources such as rotting corpses and from general impurities in the atmosphere [1]. The theory had seemed to take hold in lieu of a more satisfying explanation [1]. One of the major problems with the theory was the lack of supporting experimental evidence due to a lack of a testing method [1]. This theory violates Carnap’s criteria while Popper would consider the theory scientific as it possess empirical content, it excludes an individual from acquiring certain diseases in the absence of miasma. Let us consider a case where both Carnap and Popper would agree. Compare the Miasma theory to