DOCSLIB.ORG

Karl Popper's Vision of Democracy As the Ideal Society

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Karl Popper's Vision of Democracy As the Ideal Society •AST AFE!r *NA COLLECTi®» HIS THESIS HAS BEEN ACCEPTED POS TI1E DEGREE OP^.tXV ^ '•£V\C\ l\ // Karl Popper’s Vision of Democracy as the Ideal Society By, Oyigo, Josphat. */ Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the M.A degree Philosophy of the University of Nairobi. UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI LIBRARY 1 0160066 0 4 0 / *OR USE TN TOP r,TR9 »T?r ONLY Declaration. This thesis is my original work and has not been presented for a degree in any other University Signature:. Oyigo, Josphat. [Candidate] This thesis has been submitted for examination with my approval as University Supervisor. ___ V Signature:.. .1 Dr. F. O ch ien ^ Odhiambo. Date:. % .'.23. 11 Dedication. To, My family, with love. But, This work belongs to all who recognise with concern the central role of philosophy in society. */ 4 0 / til Content. Acknowledgement.......................................................................................................... iv A bstract.........................................................................................................................v Definition of Terms .......................................................................................................vii Chapter One. Introduction.................. 1 1.1 Statement of the Problem......................................................................................... 1 1.2 Objectives........................................................................... .......................................3 1.3 Methodology ............................................................................................................3 1.4 Theoretical Framework .......................................................................................... 3 1.5 Justification and Significance of the Study..............................................................5 1.6 Literature Review ....................................................................................................6 Notes...................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter Two, Popper’s Theory of Knowledge..................................................................................... 17 2.1 The ‘Three World’ concept........................................................................................18 2.2 Common Sense Realism.............................................................................................22 2.3 Growth of Knowledge................................................................................................ 24 2.4 Corroboration and Verisimilitude..............................................................................29 2.5 Critical Remarks..........................................................................................................31 Notes........................................................................................................................ 40 Chapter Three. Epistemological Origins of Popper’s Social-Political Philosophy ............................ 44 3.1 Who Should Rule?.....................................................................................................45 3.2 Science, Scientific Attitude, and Society................................................................ 49 3.3 The Three World Influences on Society ...............................................................52 3.4 Critical Remarks .................................................................................................../< 57 Notes...................................................................................................................... 62 Chapter Four. The Open Society - Popper’s Ideal Society ................................................................64 4.1 Popper’s Democracy ................................................................................................65 4.2 Institutions o f the Open Society ............................................................................. 66 4.3 Piecemeal Vs Utopian Social Engineering................................................................70 4.4 Popper’s Political Maxims .......................................................................................74 4.5 Polyarchy .................................................................................................................. 76 4.6 Political Paradoxes .................................................................................................... 79 4.7 The Enemies of the Open Society ....................................................... ................... 83 4.8 Critical Remarks .........................................................................................................90 Notes........................................................................................................................100 Chapter Five Summary and Recommendations.................................................................................. 104 Bibliography.....................................................................................................................107 IV Acknowledgement. This study would not have been completed without the assistance, co-operation, and encouragement of several people. I am immensely indebted to my supervisor Dr. F. Ochieng’- odhiambo, for his candid, insightful, and dedicated guidance. His clarity in criticism not only facilitated my conceptualisation of Popper’s ideas, it also helped in concretising and strengthening my own ideas as well. I owe much of my success to Mr Karori Mbugua, whose interest in this work was inspiring. His assistance crystallised what had initially seemed a hazy dream. I also want to express my gratitude to all the members of Philosophy department, especially my lecturers - Dr. F. Ochieng'-Odhiambo, Prof. Gail Presby, Prof. J. M. Nyasani, Dr. E. H. Embeywa, Dr. Jack Odhiambo and Fr. M. Mwangi, for their understanding and incessant motivation which made it possible for me to grapple with the arduous M.A course. To my family, I extend my unreserved gratitude and appreciation. They have been my source of strength as they have always prodded me to further my studies. ''/ Last but not least, I express my special thanks to Ms Mbaisi who has been my greatest source of inspiration. I sincerely wish I could find words apt enough to thank her for her readiness to help me in typing this work. I am, however, responsible for any errors of fact, interpretation, or judgement in this work. Abstract. This work attempts to reveal and explicate Popper’s Ideal Society. This is done against the backdrop of an unended quest, by social philosophers, for an Ideal Society. The study shows that unlike most past philosophers who envisaged the Ideal Society to be a utopian changeless and perfect entity, Popper conceives it as an imperfect, changing [growing] and Open Society. This Popperian Society is what the study has called Polyarchy - a term borrowed from Robert Dahl’s A Preface to Democratic Theory and which symbolizes the epitome of the democratic process. The work recognizes Popper’s contention that the classical conception of the Ideal Society was authoritarian and mistaken. It accepts his argument to the effect that this classical conception was prompted by a faulty epistemic theory. This theory takes the validity of knowledge to be a function of its source and therefore dependant on authority. It thus tends to justify might as being right. When moved to social and political philosophy, it leads to the question ‘who should rule?’ and therefore to the search for charismatic, intelligent, powerful and benevolent leaders. The study notices Popper’s caution that if this line is taken then it degenerates into authoritarian rule and the propagation of the ‘closed’ Society. In contrast to this, the study shows that Popper’s ‘open’ Society is based on an objective theory of knowledge. Here knowledge takes on a public outlook as emphasis is laid not on the person or source but on debate and criticism. In this perspective, Knowledge is never certain, it is perpetually hypothetical and conjectural. Since it is public, what is crucial are the social institutions that protect the method of its acquisition. These institutions also govern the conduct of the persons who proclaim this new knowledge. The study then goes ahead to show that this conception of the problem of knowledge leads, in social and political philosophy, to the question: How can we best control our leaders? This results into the demand that a society be administered through social VI institutions which protect the freedom of its members. These institutions should be controlled by the public as they themselves know what is best for them. Although the mood that permeates through the whole work is of shared assumptions, the study challenges many of Poppers’ convictions. It takes great exception to his reduction of epistemology to just methodology, his rejection of psychologism and personalism and especially his demand for near pure institutionalism. It disagrees with his belief in the rationality and objectivity of man especially when it comes to politics. It also rejects his assumption of the autonomy of the Open Society. In this process, it develops Popper’s ideas further by arguing that falsification alone is not enough in the search for knowledge. It also shows that institutionalism when it disregards the personal factor cannot be a foundation of an Ideal Society. But in the end the study adopts most
Load more

Recommended publications
  • John Locke's Historical Method
    RUCH FILOZOFICZNY LXXV 2019 4 Zbigniew Pietrzak University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland ORCID: 0000-0003-2458-1252 e-mail: [email protected] John Locke’s Historical Method and “Natural Histories” in Modern Natural Sciences DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/RF.2019.038 Introduction Among the many fundamental issues that helped shape the philosophy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, one concerned the condi- tion of philosophy and scientific knowledge, and in the area of our inter- est – knowledge about nature.1 These philosophical inquiries included both subject-related problems concerning human cognitive abilities and object-related ones indicating possible epistemological boundaries that nature itself could have generated. Thus, already at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from Francis Bacon, Galileo, and 1 These reflections are an elaboration on the topic I mentioned in the article “His- toria naturalna a wiedza o naturze” [“Natural History vs. Knowledge of Nature”], in: Rozum, człowiek, historia, [Mind, Man, History], ed. Jakub Szczepański (Cracow: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, 2018); as well as in my master’s thesis: The Crisis of Cognition, the Crisis of Philosophy (not published). It is also a debate over the content of Adam Grzeliński’s article entitled “‘Rozważania dotyczące rozu- mu ludzkiego’ Johna Locke’a: teoria poznania i historia” [“John Locke’s ‘An essay on human understanding’: cognition theory and history”], in: Rozum, człowiek, historia, ed. Jakub Szczepański, (Cracow: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, 2018), as well as some of the themes of the author’s monograph Doświadczenie i rozum. Empiryzm Johna Locke’a [Experience and reason. The empiricism of John Locke] (To- ruń: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2019).
    [Show full text]
  • Mill's Conversion: the Herschel Connection
    volume 18, no. 23 Introduction november 2018 John Stuart Mill’s A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, being a connected view of the principles of evidence, and the methods of scientific investigation was the most popular and influential treatment of sci- entific method throughout the second half of the 19th century. As is well-known, there was a radical change in the view of probability en- dorsed between the first and second editions. There are three differ- Mill’s Conversion: ent conceptions of probability interacting throughout the history of probability: (1) Chance, or Propensity — for example, the bias of a bi- The Herschel Connection ased coin. (2) Judgmental Degree of Belief — for example, the de- gree of belief one should have that the bias is between .6 and .7 after 100 trials that produce 81 heads. (3) Long-Run Relative Frequency — for example, propor- tion of heads in a very large, or even infinite, number of flips of a given coin. It has been a matter of controversy, and continues to be to this day, which conceptions are basic. Strong advocates of one kind of prob- ability may deny that the others are important, or even that they make Brian Skyrms sense at all. University of California, Irvine, and Stanford University In the first edition of 1843, Mill espouses a frequency view of prob- ability that aligns well with his general material view of logic: Conclusions respecting the probability of a fact rest, not upon a different, but upon the very same basis, as conclu- sions respecting its certainly; namely, not our ignorance, © 2018 Brian Skyrms but our knowledge: knowledge obtained by experience, This work is licensed under a Creative Commons of the proportion between the cases in which the fact oc- Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 the Anglo-American Tradition of Liberty: a View From
    The Anglo-American Tradition of Liberty: A View from Europe By João Carlos Espada (London and New York: Routledge Press, 2016). In the wake of Britain’s recent vote to leave the European Union, Professor Espada’s new book could not be more timely. For Espada argues persuasively that Europe benefits hugely from the example of British traditions of individual liberty and the rule of law. Although this book is a discussion of the ideas of a wide range of major theorists of political liberty, in his conclusion, Espada becomes an eloquent and passionate defender of Britain’s remaining in the European Union—for the sake of Europe more than for any benefit to Britain. Espada fears the centripetal forces of European bureaucracy in the absence of a British voice for individual liberty and local government. Espada had hoped that reforms within the EU might just entice Britain to stay. Perhaps eventually he will be proven right. As a study of modern liberal political theory, Espada’s new book is unusually personal. He recounts some of his own experiences in fascist Portugal and his lifelong love of things British, which led him to the study of political theory at Oxford University. While living in England, Espada was able to meet or study with several luminaries of twentieth-century liberal political theory, including Karl Popper, Ralf Dahrendorf, Isaiah Berlin, and Raymond Plant. Espada also mentions his experiences teaching in the United States, which led him to appreciate the thought of Alexis de Tocqueville and James Madison as well as Gertrude Himmelfarb and Irving Kristol.
    [Show full text]
  • Jean-Pierre Dupuy*
    Jean-Pierre Dupuy* DO WE SHAPE TECHNOLOG IES, OR DO THEY SHAPE US ? To the question that the title of my talk raises, a short answer might be the one put forward by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the middle of the 19 th century, "machines, once made, make men". A slightly longer reply would be, we can shape technologies only to the extent that we acknowledge that they shape us. However I will be led to question the pertinence of the question itself. Two major attitudes towards technology stress our capacity to shap e technology, although they differ strongly from each other in all other respects. The technocratic attitude , first, is rationalistic and decisionist. It characterizes the technological elites of our countries, and is the kind of philosophy implicit in th e way scientists and engineers themselves think about technology. According to this view, technology is neutral as regards values; it is wert-frei, value-free. It is a means to an end. It can enhance or destroy our capacities for enjoyment, well-being, achievement and the like, depending on the intentions of those who devise or use it. This is the utilitarian, instrumental conception of technology as the embodiment of the kind of rationality that Max Weber dubbed Zweckrationalität – i.e. means-ends rationality. As is well known, this view was radically desconstructed by Heidegger. "As long as we think of technology as an instrument," Heidegger declared in his famous paper on the essence of technique, first presented in 1949, "we remain caught up in the will to mastery." And this will to mastery can only lead us to our destruction.
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief Overview of the Philosophy of Science
    A Brief Overview of the Philosophy of Science NRC 601 Research Concepts in Natural Resources Department of Natural Resources Conservation University of Massachusetts Amherst Fall 2009 Instructor: Stephen DeStefano USGS Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Opening premise “The universe is a place filled with wonderful but deeply mysterious structures and processes – [but] these can be understood as behaving in accord with universal laws.” - Anonymous Objectives (1) lay a foundation of philosophy and trace the philosophical roots of science. (2) become familiar with the names and backgrounds of some key philosophers of science. (3) identify some of the ideas and approaches that form the foundations of modern science. Some terminology - empiricism --- all knowledge is derived from experience. - deductivism --- specific observations obtained from generalizations. - inductivism --- generalizations from facts recorded in experience. - materialism --- everything that exists is physical. - metaphysicalism --- related to abstract, intangible, philosophical. - realism --- there is a knowable external world. - scepticism --- the world is unknowable; nothing can be established. - pluralism --- increase alternative H’s to max. chance of falsification. Types of Reasoning (1) analogical “Betty should be able to graduate from college because her identical twin did so . “ “Black spruce require certain levels of nutrients, therefore white spruce should . .” (2) inductive 1,000 apples are red all apples are red (3) deductive “If all men are mortal and Socrates is a man, then Socrates is mortal.” In Ecology . We study a . sample, . and apply what we learn to . the population. Thus we commonly use . inductive reasoning, . based on . empirical data. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) An English lawyer, statesman, essayist, historian, intellectual, reformer, philosopher, and champion of modern science.
    [Show full text]
  • Karl Popper and the Philosophy of Mathematics Proceedings of the Conference Held in Klagenfurt, 5 – 7 April, 2018
    Symposium Karl Popper and the Philosophy of Mathematics Proceedings of the Conference held in Klagenfurt, 5 – 7 April, 2018 Edited by Reinhard Neck Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt 2018 Contents Preface ................................................................................................................ v Programme ...................................................................................................... vii Abstracts and Preliminary Papers .................................................................. 1 Schroeder-Heister, Peter Popper on deductive logic and logical education ...................................................... 2 Binder, David A Critical Edition of Popper's Work on Logic .......................................................... 3 Brîncuş, Constantin and Toader, Iulian Non-normal Interpretations of Positive Logic .......................................................... 8 Pimbé, Daniel Popper and “absolute proofs” ................................................................................. 12 Albert, Max Critical Rationalism and Decision Theory .............................................................. 25 Del Santo, Flavio The physical motivations for a propensity interpretation of probability ................. 26 Afisi, Oseni Taiwo Prospensity Probability and Its Applications of Knowledge in Ifa ......................... 32 Miller, David Independence (Probabilistic) and Independence (Logical) ..................................... 36 Burgoyne, Bernard From cosmic paths to psychic
    [Show full text]
  • All Clouds Are Clocks - Even the Most Cloudy of Clouds
    Clocks and Clouds All clouds are clocks - even the most cloudy of clouds. -Karl Popper Volume V | Fall 2014/Spring 2015 Volume SCHOOL of PUBLIC AFFAIRS SCHOOL of INTERNATIONAL SERVICE Clocks and Clouds Volume V | Fall 2014/Spring 2015 Clocks and Clouds AMERICAN UNIVERSITY’S UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL LOCKSAND Volume V | Fall 2014/Spring 2015 Volume A JOURNALLOUDS OF NATIONAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ALLISON BLAUVELT A Statistical Analysis of Privacy Norms and State Compliance with Anti-Money Laundering Regulations ADAM PARENTE CThe Impact of External Support on Intrastate Conflict JESSICA AGOSTINELLI Do Western-Educated Middle East Leaders Pass the Democracy Test? LIA GREEN That’s What Makes You Suc-cess-ful: An Analysis of the Required Conditions for an Internationally Successful Music Industry JULIA SULLIVAN India’s Anti-GMO Rhetoric: Wielding Gandhian Thought to Undermine Corporate-Capitalist Agriculture VOLUME V, FALL 2014/SPRING 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction i Staff List ii Allison Blauvelt 1 A Statistical Analysis of Privacy Norms and State Compliance with Anti-Money Laundering Regulations Adam Parente 21 The Impact of External Support on Intrastate Conflict Jessica Agostinelli 37 Do Western-Educated Middle East Leaders Pass the Democracy Test? Lia Green 61 That’s What Makes You Suc-cess-ful: An Analysis of the Required Conditions for an Internationally Successful Music Industry Julia Sullivan 81 India’s Anti-GMO Rhetoric: Wielding Gandhian Thought to Undermine Corporate-Capitalist Agriculture INTRODUCTION This year was very much a transitional year for Clocks and Clouds. Switching from a semester-long publication basis to a full year while at the same time attempting to greatly expand our online presence has been a journey for everyone involved.
    [Show full text]
  • The Atheist Trap, Or the Argument from Design and Scientific Falsification
    University of Rhode Island DigitalCommons@URI Open Access Master's Theses 1993 The Atheist Trap, or the Argument from Design and Scientific Falsification Joseph R. Mixie University of Rhode Island Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses Recommended Citation Mixie, Joseph R., "The Atheist Trap, or the Argument from Design and Scientific alsificationF " (1993). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 1761. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/1761 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BTI02 M589 1993 THE A THEIST TRAP, OR THE ARGUMENT FROM DESIGN AND SCIENTIFIC FALSIFICATION ISM BY JOSEPH R. MIXIE A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN PHILOSOPHY 2 I<;'�,,,,�,. -;; UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND ... 1993 THESIS ABSTRACT The argument from design is one of the most widely debated arguments for the existence of God. There has been much written in support of and in criticism of the argument's basic structure and conclusion. I shall attempt to clarify these positions, and to argue that the thei?ti c account provides a more rationally justified explanation of human life on earth than the atheistic account. Many philosophers think that any proof for the existence of God is mere "metaphysical speculation." Many times these philosophers use the criteria of scientific empiricism as the standard for an "acceptable" scientific theory, regardless of the subject matter.
    [Show full text]
  • (1963). Science As Falsification by Karl R. Popper
    The following excerpt was originally published in Conjectures and Refutations (1963). Science as Falsification by Karl R. Popper When I received the list of participants in this course and realized that I had been asked to speak to philosophical colleagues I thought, after some hesitation and consolation, that you would probably prefer me to speak about those problems which interests me most, and about those developments with which I am most intimately acquainted. I therefore decided to do what I have never done before: to give you a report on my own work in the philosophy of science, since the autumn 1919 when I first begin to grapple with the problem, "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 pseudoscience may happen to stumble on the truth. I knew, of course, the most widely accepted answer to my problem: that science is distinguished from pseudoscience—or from "metaphysics"—by its empirical method, which is essentially inductive, proceeding from observation or experiment. But this did not satisfy me. On the contrary, I often formulated my problem as one of distinguishing between a genuinely empirical method and a non-empirical or even pseudo-empirical method — that is to say, a method which, although it appeals to observation and experiment, nevertheless does not come up to scientific standards.
    [Show full text]
  • Karl Popper and the Idea of Liberal Social Reform
    Karl Popper and the Idea of Liberal Social Reform A paper presented at the Karl Popper Seminar Series anchored by Prof. Jeremy Shearmur, held at the Department of Philosophy, Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia. (22nd June, 2011). By Oseni Taiwo Afisi Department of Philosophy Lagos State University, Ojo Email: [email protected] Abstract This paper examines the hypothesis that there is a great deal of plausibility in the equation between a liberal society that aims to achieve a truly open society, and a non-liberal society that desires intellectual openness. For a society to be truly open requires the primacy of individual freedom. The extent to which individuals are free to perform actions that they desire without external constraints, and the level of their individuality in relations to others when performing such actions, remain a contentious issue between liberals and non-liberals. Karl Popper’s critical rationalism provides the necessary impetus to the freedom and individuality that the openness of society entails. Popper’s politics of liberalism provides an effective model of how a truly open society can be achieved. The values inherent to Popper’s liberalism as intellectual openness, individual freedom, mutual respect for others, welfarism, humanitarianism, accountability, critical debates and feedback from the citizens; together thus allow a society to be truly open. Introduction Although there are many competing thoughts as to what openness might be in Popper’s philosophy, this present work does not presume to address them all. The focus here is specifically on using Popper’s idea of critical rationalism to balance relations between liberal politics of individual rights and freedom, and non-liberal politics of the common good advocated by some communitarians such as Charles Taylor (1979), Michael Sandel (1982) and Alasdair MacIntyre (1984).
    [Show full text]
  • The Philosophy of Karl Popper
    P1: JZX 0521839467Agg.xml CY443/Keuth 0521839467 August 25, 2004 16:38 The Philosophy of Karl Popper HERBERT KEUTH Eberhard Karls Universitat,¨ Tubingen¨ iii P1: JZX 0521839467Agg.xml CY443/Keuth 0521839467 August 25, 2004 16:38 published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, uk 40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011-4211, usa 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, vic 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcon´ 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org Die Philosophie Karl Poppers C J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck) 2000 English translation C Herbert Keuth 2005 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in German in 2000 English edition first published 2005 Printed in the United States of America Typeface itc New Baskerville 10/13 pt. System LATEX 2ε [tb] A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Keuth, Herbert, 1940– [Philosophie Karl Poppers. English] The philosophy of Karl Popper / Herbert Keuth. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. isbn 0-521-83946-7 – isbn 0-521-54830-6 (pbk.) 1. Popper, Karl Raimund, Sir, 1902–1994 I. Title. b1649.p64k4813 2004 192 – dc22 2004045179 isbn 0 521 83946 7 hardback isbn 0 521 54830 6 paperback iv P1: JZX 0521839467Agg.xml CY443/Keuth 0521839467 August 25, 2004 16:38 Contents List of Abbreviations page xiii Preface xv Introduction 1 part i.
    [Show full text]
  • Four Central Issues in Popper's Theory of Science
    FOUR CENTRAL ISSUES IN POPPER’S THEORY OF SCIENCE By CARLOS E. GARCIA-DUQUE A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2002 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would not have been able to finish this project without the help and support of many persons and institutions. To begin with, 1 wish to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Chuang Liu, chair of my doctoral committee for his continuous support and enthusiastic encouragement since the time when this dissertation was nothing more than a inchoate idea. 1 enjoyed our long discussions and benefited greatly from his advice and insightful suggestions. 1 am also very grateful to the other members of my committee, who all made significant contributions to the final product. 1 wish to thank Dr. Kirk Ludwig with whom 1 have had extensive discussions about several specific problems that 1 addressed in my dissertation. His valuable suggestions made my arguments more compelling and helped me to improve substantially Chapter 5. Dr. Robert D’Amico has posed deep questions that led me to refine and better structure my views. My conversa- tions with Dr. Robert A. Hatch about specific episodes in the history of science and their relationship with my topic were inspirational and prompted me to develop new ideas. I completed my doctoral studies with the endorsement of the Fulbright Program and the support of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Florida. 1 also want to thank the Universidad de Caldas and the Universidad de Manizales for granting me a leave of absence long enough to successfully finish this academic program.
    [Show full text]