Metaphysics in a Review of "Karl Popper's Philosophy of Science" (Rationality Without Foundations) by Stefano Gattei

This article is the result of a book review of a work by Stefano Gattei. The starting point of Popper's view is that "almost every phase of our scientific development is under metaphysical rule, that is, ideas that are tested, ideas which determine not only what problems we need to explain, but also what kinds of answers we will consider to be one that is important or satisfactory or accepted, and as a remedy, or guarantee, of a previous answer". Popper's indeterminism is important because Popper's custom begins by considering an intuitive Laplacian view of determinism: "the world is like a motion picture film: or a projected image. Parts of the film have proved to be the past. And unproven people are the past. front". Popper has always been claimed to be a metaphysical realist: to him, to be a realist means to think, in covenant with common sense, that the world of his existence is independent of human beings. It means, "my existence will end without the world coming to an end too". As well as other metaphysical positions, realism is a non-testable conjecture: "realism is neither proven nor disproved"

Bion Theory: an answer to the question Why is there Something rather than Nothing?

Why is there something rather than nothing? This paper explores one particular argument in favor of the answer that 'the existence of nothing' would amount to a logical contradiction. This argument consists of positing the existence of a novel entity, called a bion, of which all contingent things can be composed yet itself is non-contingent. First an overview of historical attempts to compile a systematic and exhaustive list of answers to the question is presented as context. Then follows an analysis of how the antropic principle would manifest itself in a world that consists of information and at the same time conforms to modal realism. Next, a thought experiment introduces bions as the foundation of such a world, showing how under these circumstances the ultimate origin of all existing things would be explained. The non-contingent nature of bions themselves is subsequently argued via a discussion of the principle of non-contradiction. Finally, this theory centered on the existence of bions is integrated into the worldview of Popperian metaphysics. According to the latter's criteria, I conclude that bion theory provides an integral answer to why there is something rather than nothing

Truth as anticipation : Moltmann and Popper on the concept of openness.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1992.Theology and Science need dialogue since they are interdependent areas of human experience and enquiry. Each discipline needs to be open to the discoveries and insights of the other. Mutual agreement on fundamental issues is not a point of departure; we must rather ask whether what one discipline is doing can have any. relevance for the pursuits of the other? The theologian, Jurgen Moltmann, and the philosopher of science, Sir Karl Popper, find in "openness" a common methodology. By openness they mean that present realities are partial; that truth lies ahead anticipated within systems that "complexify" in evolutionary openness and transcendence. Moltmann sees the fullness of truth unveiled in the eschaton. The Resurrection of Jesus is the anticipation in time of the eschaton towards which history is moving. Within history, creative acts open up the closed systems of the world for they transform present reality. These closed systems are revealed by the Cross which identifies the negatives (political oppression, economic inequality, cultural and sexual discrimination, ecological abuse, personal apathy) within history. In the "negation of the negatives" such creative acts are real antcipations of the eschaton. However, the roots of openness in the world lie in creation. Creation in the beginning is a creation with open possibilities involving the evolution of complex open systems marked by growing indeterminacy of behaviour. These systems are in communication with the transcendent future into which they are evolving. This transcendent future is the trinitarian God: open to creation, to history and to man in suffering but creative love. The trinitarian life is identified with worldly processes through the openness of the Cross. The completion of the creative process lies in the kingdom of glory. Here there is participation of transcendent creation in the unlimited freedom of God. Evolutionary openness is the overall Popperian methodology. It pervades the entire spectrum of Popper's thought: from physics, through epistemology and social theory to biological and evolutionary theory. Critical rationalism is the bedrock of Popper's thought. The search for certainty becomes the enemy of truth, since rationalism rejects any dogmatism. Rather, rationalism means open critical discussion and experiential learning. For this reason Popper rejects induction and replaces it by the logico-deductive method. Here justification is replaced by falsification: knowledge is conjectural, constantly threatened by refutation and progressing to problems of increasing depth and complexity and hence to greater truth-likeness. Even animal evolution begins with a problem - the problem of survival. Human evolution, however, develops outside the human person. It is applied knowledge. With the development of human language, the self-conscious mind (World 2) emerges and with it the autonomous world of the products of the human mind, World 3. (World 1 is the physical world of nature). In these later developments something new emerges which can interact with the lower levels by a process of downward causation. A picture emerges of a creative, expanding, evolving, indeterminate universe. Indeterminism, itself, lies somewhere between perfect chance and perfect determinism. Lastly in his rejection of holism, historicism and utopianism, Popper has eschewed the collective and replaced the responsible individual at the social centre of his openness. The struggle for rational openness needs the individual response, the individual initiative and mutual critical discussion. This means that piecemeal social engineering is the practical model for the reform of the open evolutionary society. Moltmann and Popper both envisage an evolutionary struggle towards truth: truth is but anticipation. The growth of truth leads to increased complexity, greater openness and eventual transcendence. These insights may, indeed, aid the dialogue between theology and science

An Enduring Philosophical Agenda. Worldview Construction as a Philosophical Method

Is there something like a philosophical method? It seems that there are as many methods as there are philosophies. A method is any procedure employed to attain a certain end. So, before going to a method, we have to ask: what is the aim of philosophy? At the origin of philosophy, there is a questioning about the world. Leo Apostel and Jan Van der Veken made more precise and explicit those fundamental questions (Apostel, Van der Veken 1991). The primarily aim of philosophy can be seen as answering this philosophical agenda; with the answers, one come up with a worldview. We'll argue that the philosophical worldviews constitute a particular class of the possible worldviews. With the help of three analogies, we'll give some guidelines to construct such worldviews. But, what are the best philosophical worldviews? We'll see how we can compare and confront them; and also some problems for their diffusion. The last section will propose some basic hypotheses to build such integrative worldviews