Analytic PhilosophyPhilosophy of Science |
How did falsification work according to Karl Popper? |
Popper (1902–1994) postulated a hypothetico-deductive method. From the hypothesis—together with descriptions of initial conditions—certain future events, or known past events could be logically deduced. If the hypothetico-deductive method were applied to the past, it worked as a form of explanation. If it was applied to the future, it was the form of prediction. Prediction and explanation thus had the same logical structure.