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Pseudo Scientific Dogma

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The following is taken from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/popper/

 The Marxist account of history too, Popper held, is not scientific, although it differs in certain crucial respects from psychoanalysis. For Marxism, Popper believed, had been initially scientific, in that Marx had postulated a theory which was genuinely predictive. However, when these predictions were not in fact borne out, the theory was saved from falsification by the addition of ad hoc hypotheses which made it compatible with the facts. By this means, Popper asserted, a theory which was initially genuinely scientific degenerated into pseudo-scientific dogma.

These factors combined to make Popper take falsifiability as his criterion for demarcating science from non-science: if a theory is incompatible with possible empirical observations it is scientific; conversely, a theory which is compatible with all such observations, either because, as in the case of Marxism, it has been modified solely to accommodate such observations, or because, as in the case of psychoanalytic theories, it is consistent with all possible observations, is unscientific. For Popper, however, to assert that a theory is unscientific, is not necessarily to hold that it is unenlightening, still less that it is meaningless, for it sometimes happens that a theory which is unscientific (because it is unfalsifiable) at a given time may become falsifiable, and thus scientific, with the development of technology, or with the further articulation and refinement of the theory. Further, even purely mythogenic explanations have performed a valuable function in the past in expediting our understanding of the nature of reality.

Search and replace Marx with Darwin and it remains essentially the same

The Darwinist account of history too, Popper held, is not scientific, although it differs in certain crucial respects from psychoanalysis. For Darwinism, Popper believed, had been initially scientific, in that Darwin had postulated a theory which was genuinely predictive. However, when these predictions were not in fact borne out, the theory was saved from falsification by the addition of ad hoc hypotheses which made it compatible with the facts. By this means, Popper asserted, a theory which was initially genuinely scientific degenerated into pseudo-scientific dogma.

These factors combined to make Popper take falsifiability as his criterion for demarcating science from non-science: if a theory is incompatible with possible empirical observations it is scientific; conversely, a theory which is compatible with all such observations, either because, as in the case of Darwinism, it has been modified solely to accommodate such observations, or because, as in the case of psychoanalytic theories, it is consistent with all possible observations, is unscientific. For Popper, however, to assert that a theory is unscientific, is not necessarily to hold that it is unenlightening, still less that it is meaningless, for it sometimes happens that a theory which is unscientific (because it is unfalsifiable) at a given time may become falsifiable, and thus scientific, with the development of technology, or with the further articulation and refinement of the theory. Further, even purely mythogenic explanations have performed a valuable function in the past in expediting our understanding of the nature of reality.

Darwinism has become pseudo-scientific dogma. Karl Popper spells it out plainly for us.

 

Comments
If a Homo erectus were found in Jurassic strata, it would be game over for NDE. And that’s a just one, fairly trivial example. How about blood cells in dinosaur bone?tribune7
September 4, 2006
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Of course ID is falsifiable. All that has to be done is demonstrate that chance and necessity did what ID claims can't be done without intelligent agency. I feel the pain of the chance worshippers knowing that the falsification of ID is the demonstration of chance and necessity. It leaves them looking pretty darn silly as they blunder about doing everything they can to knock down ID including going to federal court to prevent kids from hearing a fair (no straw man) explanation of ID. The only they don't do to knock down ID is demonstrate that chance and necessity is an adequate mechanism. No small wonder there - it's not easy proving something happened that never actually happened. :razz: Carlos, I think you missed the main point of my post. It's the addition of ad hoc hypothesis to explain things after the fact. Let's face facts here. RM+NS in principle can explain any modification at all in common descent. It's all a matter of probabilities. If you are willing to suspend disbelief and accept that nearly impossible odds were routinely and repeatedly overcome during the course of evolution from chemical soup to nuts then RM+NS can do just about anything physically possible in making modifications to living things. Therefore, any empirical evidence that comes to light can be explained ad hoc by RM+NS. I'm not willing to suspend disbelief, Carlos. I won't do it for the incredible stories found in religious texts and I won't do it for the incredible stories found in biology texts. It's just that simple.DaveScot
September 4, 2006
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Joseph, Thank you for illustrating the point so nicely. Nothing falsifies NDE because it predicts everything after the fact.BarryA
September 4, 2006
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Carlos: If a Homo erectus were found in Jurassic strata, it would be game over for NDE. And that’s a just one, fairly trivial example. Seeing that NDE doesn't predict Home erectus I don't see how that scenario would falsify it. All that would do is change some thinking. And the most it could falsify is the history of life.Joseph
September 4, 2006
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mike1962, "As I see it, structures proffered as possible instances of IC (such as the flagellum) have not falsified NDE, but only challenge it." At this point, Mike, I agree that the flagellum is a challenge, but not a falsification, of NDE. The longer the flagellum stands as an example of an unevolvable, (time measured not in hours or years, but in amount of energy spent to prove the evolvability of the flagellum) the better is its case agains NDE. I believe that there have been some serious cases made for an NDE pathway to the flagellum -- see http://www.talkdesign.org/faqs/flagellum.html While this post only presents a just-so story that could account for the flagellum, it is a story that can lead to a path of experimental validation. If it can be demonstrated that a truly useful, non-contrived, pre-flagellum can be adapted to become a flagellum in a single event mutation, I think that Behe's challenge is toast. I believe that the challenge of Haldane's dilemma remains to be significant. I am seen an emergence of patterns, most noteable the cyclochrome C as pointed out by Denton, but also the similarity of the marsupials and the placentals, the universality of pentadactylism, etc. Convergence seems significantly too strong a force to be accounted for by NDE. All of these challenge NDE. Do they, in one fell swoop, defeat it? I am seeing bunches of evidence coming out of rather specific mutations happening somewhere between the chimp and the human. Consider http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060817/brain_evolution_gene_060817/20060817?hub=SciTech Here we have a gene that has taken 18 mutations on the human side of the human/chimp ancestor, yet the gene showed a shocking mutation resistance, with only only two mutational differences between the chimp and the chicken. What caused this gene to go into mutation mode? This is a solidly unexpected phenomenon. Is this a case that cannot be realistically explained by NDE? I don't know the answer to this, but it sure smells fishy. I also think that it is a wonderful place to explore ID based research. Consider the following link: http://www.thedesignmatrix.com/content/?p=25. Here Mike Gene points to a protzoan which contains an astonishing 27,000 coding genes. Not bad for a single celled creature. The boys at Telic Thoughts, most noteably Mike Gene and Krauze are suggesting that this creature may hold evidence of front-loading. If they find evidence that this organism actually has genes that are "ideally suited" for multi-cellularity, well, I think the NDEers are going to find this very hard to explain indeed. A number of IDers have presented "junk DNA" point of contention between ID and NDE. The suggestion is that if it is established that the majority of "junk DNA" proves to be useful, this will support the ID position over NDE. None of these things, I think, would conclusively and assuredly falsify NDE, partly because NDE is held with religious ferver by many. However, much of the above would validate ID, making ID respectable science. So NDE is likely to die the death of a thousand blows, but some of the above would jar NDE out of the confident position it is in. Have I just proved that NDE is not falsifiable? I really don't think so. If the scientific community begins to say, "NDE seems to work really well except ..." then NDE is effectively falsified. When the list of exceptions gets reasonably long, NDE will find its rightful place as a theory that provides an explanation for some of the variety of life that exists -- because I believe that RM+NS are very valid mechanisms within nature.bFast
September 3, 2006
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Carlos, Forget Homo erectus... how about a Wine glass in the Jurrasic strata.. Will that put the kibosh on NDE... or will a mere "explanation" that this glass couldn't have been present in the Jurrasic straata & "should have" fallen through cracks in the strata when Quakes occured off the coast of California... There have been huge number of anomalies(not wine glasses bt artifacts that have be intelligently designed) discovered in archaelogy which have always been put in rubbish bin just cause they don't fit in with evolutionary story's timeline... just google up "forbidden archaelogy" or "Michael Cremo" & you will come up with a book that has documented the list of such anomlies...SatyaMevaJayate
September 3, 2006
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If a Homo erectus were found in Jurassic strata, it would be game over for NDE. And that's a just one, fairly trivial example. If the proof for Godel's theorem (for example) were found to be encoded into the genome of any species, let alone every species, that would pretty much put the kibosh on NDE, and it would win a decisive victory for intelligent design (or at least for non-Popperians; according to Popper, of course, no theory can ever be confirmed.)Carlos
September 3, 2006
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Moderator, I have a post stuck for a couple of hours. thanks.BarryA
September 3, 2006
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bFast: "Alas, in defense of NDE, I see the ID community as a bit two-faced. On the one hand, genuine challenges to NDE are presented, such as irreduceable complexity;" As I see it, structures proffered as possible instances of IC (such as the flagellum) have not falsified NDE, but only challenge it. bFast: "and on the other hand NDE is challenged by the ID community as unfalsifiable. I personally believe that NDE is in fact falsifiable" What would it take to falsify NDE in your opinion?mike1962
September 3, 2006
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bfast -- I see ID as not so much a scientific theory but as a slam-dunk, game-over rebuttal of scientific materialism, which also should have nothing to do with science but still permiates it. I remember years ago in the America's Cup, New Zealand violated the spirit but not the rules, causing the U.S. to switch to a catamaran which also violated the spirit but not the rules and provided an even bigger advantage. That's sort of what I see going on here. It should be considered in everything that the existence of God is axiomatic. If someone should have a theory that something long-considered divine has a natural explanation, he should be considered to investigate it, and if he should find that he is correct he should and would be heaped with praise because it is not challenge to everything good when a specific rather than general question is found to have a natural rather than divine answer.tribune7
September 3, 2006
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Gentlemen, I consider the following statement:
For when ID critics claim that ID is non-falsifiable, ID supporters can still say, “no, it’s just not yet falsifiable!
I really see ID much better defined as “a metaphysical research program.” ID has produced a couple of testable hypotheses, most noteably "irreduceable complexity". However, by its nature, I believe, will conjur up more hypotheses as time goes by. In truth, as with metaphysical views, if it must die it will die a very slow death. We see, for instance, Denton's "evolution by law" view as presented in "Nature's Destiny". Denton's view, while being highly teleological, would not be harmed in any way if it were demontrated that the flagellum could well have come to being by RM+NS alone. Denton's view would also not be challenged by the discovery of a realistic theory of abiogenesis. In fact, Denton almost expects it -- though I do not. Therefore it is my view that ID is best described as a meta-theory or “a metaphysical research program” rather than a theory/hypothesis in itself. However, I seen no reason to challenge that Behe's "irreduceable complexity" argument is a true, testable, falsifiable hypothesis. 'Bottom line, though resulting hypotheses may change, ID will live on pretty much forever. Alas, in defense of NDE, I see the ID community as a bit two-faced. On the one hand, genuine challenges to NDE are presented, such as irreduceable complexity; and on the other hand NDE is challenged by the ID community as unfalsifiable. I personally believe that NDE is in fact falsifiable, that it has weathered a significant number of challenges, that it has been forced to change by some of those challenges, and that it may or may not one day fall based solely on whether the theory is an accurate fundimental descripton of the cause of all biodiversity. I suggest, however, that the scientific community is far too presumptuous of its own base of knowledge, and that biology is far too young of a science for the community to be declaring their currently preferred theory as "fact".bFast
September 3, 2006
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Carlos, that's the point. An unfalsifiable theory might still have merit, it's just not a scientific one. Common descent or the influence of natural selection aren't really big objections concerning ID. What is seen as a problem is the claim that common descent should be considered axiomatic and that natural forces are an adequate -- much less the best -- explaination for life and the diversity of life. The funny thing is that there are those in the scientific community who are seriously considering the unlikelihood of common descent. Note the wiki entry for gene flow (based onPeter Gogarten's work):
"Using single genes as phylogenetic markers, it is difficult to trace organismal phylogeny in the presence of HGT [horizontal gene transfer]. Combining the simple coalescence model of cladogenesis with rare HGT [horizontal gene transfer] events suggest there was no single last common ancestor that contained all of the genes ancestral to those shared among the three domains of life. Each contemporary molecule has its own history and traces back to an individual molecule cenancestor. However, these molecular ancestors were likely to be present in different organisms at different times." [6]
Sorry Pete for using your work to buttress an anti-Darwin argument. :-)tribune7
September 3, 2006
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Carlos, With respect to gradualism and its importance to the evolutionary project, Dawkins says: “Gradualness is of the essence. In the context of the fight against creationism, gradualism is more or less synonymous with evolution itself. If you throw out gradualness you throw out the very thing that makes evolution more plausible than creation.” Richard Dawkins, “What Was All the Fuss About?” review of Time Frames: The Rethinking of Darwinian Evolution and the Theory of Punctuated Equilibria by Niles Eldredge, Nature 316 (August 1985): 683-684 Eldredge and Tattersall say this: “Darwin’s prediction of rampant, albeit gradual, change affecting all lineages through time is refuted. The record is there, and the record speaks for tremendous anatomical conservatism. Change in the manner Darwin expected is just not found in the fossil record.” Niles Eldredge and Ian Tattersall, The Myth of Human Evolution (New York: Columbia University Press, 1982), 45-46. Now the problem as I see it is that most Darwinists believe they have to choose between Dawkins, on the one hand, and Tattersall/Eldredge on the other. One must be right and the other wrong. I say, why can’t they both be right? Dawkins is correct that gradualism is practically synonymous with Darwinian evolution. Eldredge and Tattersall are correct that gradualism is refuted. Therefore, since the pillar upon which the rest of the theory rests has been knocked over, the theory goes down with it. I don’t see any flaws in my logic.BarryA
September 3, 2006
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But that's part of the problem with Popper: that he doesn't have a way of accounting for the rationality of scientific progress. Suppose we stipulate that phyletic gradualism is a central tenet of "Darwin's theory." And suppose the fossil record falsifies that hypothesis. Now, what's a Popperian Darwinist to do? She might say, "OK, it's all bunk, back to Paley!" Or she might say, "gradualism is false, but the rest of the theory remains sound." Or she could even reconcile the fossil record with gradualism -- for example, by arguing that the fossil record is too coarsely-grained to capture events that take place in time frames of less than several hundred thousand years. From what I know of it, Popper's theory of science doesn't offer any guidance as to which response is the most rational, and that's a big problem with it. A big problem. So, even if "Darwin's original theory" has been falsified, so what? One could always argue that the contemporary consensus among evolutionary biologists is not "Darwin's original theory." Additionally, it's not always clear falsified theories must be rejected. Consider Newtonian mechanics. It's been falsified for the very small (where quantum indeterimacy becomes noticeable) and for the very large (where relativistic effects become noticeable). Does that mean that we should reject Newtonian mechanics? Of course not! It still serves very well for explaining and predicting phenomena within a certain range of sizes and speeds. Now, if we're to be strict Popperians, perhaps we ought to say: "by 'Newtonian mechanics' today, we don't mean 'the theory precisely as outlined in the Principia Mathematica.' Instead, we mean "the theory as presented in the Principia, but only as applied to a limited range of sizes and speeds." Call the first theory 'Newtonian mechanics' and the second theory 'Newtonian mechanics*.' Our situation is one in which Newtonian mechanics has been falsified, but Newtonian mechanics* has not." This might help, but it also seems to invite all sorts of further problems, about how we're supposed to tell when two theories are identical or similar.Carlos
September 3, 2006
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Carlos -- So, even if Darwin’s original theory were at some point non-falsifiable, You miss the point. Darwin's original theory, like Marx, presented predictions that have been falsified.tribune7
September 3, 2006
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OK, DaveScot, now you're playing in my sandbox. (Excellent!) 1) Notice that rewriting the quote about Popper doesn't do what you want it to, since Popper clearly indicates that non-falsifiable stories can become falsifiable over time. So, even if Darwin's original theory were at some point non-falsifiable, it could become so as more lines of evidence are discovered (e.g. molecular evolution, biochemical similaritiess, the genetic regulation of development). Incidentally, this point is really much more useful to ID supporters than it is their critics. For when ID critics claim that ID is non-falsifiable, ID supporters can still say, "no, it's just not yet falsifiable!" 2) It can be useful to consider what Popper actually thought about Darwinism. Popper himself initially considered Darwinism to be a non-scientific explanatory framework, analogous to Marxism and to psychoanalysis. (His own term is "a metaphysical research program" which is not itself a theory, but can be used to produce testable theories.) It has been claimed that he subsequently recanted, but I am not so sure what the recantation was supposed to be, except to point out that natural selection is not tautologous. 3) One crucial but subtle point brought out in (2) is that Popper is severely critical of the empiricist agenda: that we can do science without metaphysical assumptions. On the contrary, Popper thinks that metaphysical assumptions can be extremely useful in creating theories ("conjectures") -- so long as the conjecture is refutable. 4) Finally (for this post): there are some difficulties in Popper's account of science which make it of limited use. One difficulty is that falsification is an attempt to dispense with induction, and offer an entirely deductive way of doing science. But this runs afoul of Quinean objections to our supposed ability to test the sentences of our theory one by one. If theories are "corporate bodies" and not merely sets of logically isolated sentence, then piecemeal testing, or either the Carnapian or Popperian variety, won't work. This point was brought home against Popper by Hilary Putnam. Putnam has also shown that successful science uses a variety of inference schemes, and so Popper's attempt to explain all science in terms of one inference scheme fails.Carlos
September 3, 2006
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