“Growth of knowledge consists in the continuous modification of earlier hypotheses in the light of critical examination. The growth of knowledge is not accumulation but correction and replacement. We do not learn new facts; we learn new interpretations of facts.”
—
Karl Popper
Objective Knowledge (1972), Oxford University Press; also various essays
Commentary
Popper's epistemology is revolutionary rather than evolutionary. Knowledge doesn't accumulate; it transforms through revolutionary correction. Medieval medicine wasn't wrong in small ways but fundamentally: its conceptual framework was mistaken. Modern knowledge has overturned it.
This challenges the image of science as 'standing on the shoulders of giants,' progressively building. Rather, science is radical reinterpretation. What seems solid (Newtonian physics, Euclidean geometry) is overtaken. This has implications for how we regard current science: it too will likely be superseded. This encouraged scientific humility while maintaining confidence in the method of critical testing.
Commentary
Popper's epistemology is revolutionary rather than evolutionary. Knowledge doesn't accumulate; it transforms through revolutionary correction. Medieval medicine wasn't wrong in small ways but fundamentally: its conceptual framework was mistaken. Modern knowledge has overturned it.
This challenges the image of science as 'standing on the shoulders of giants,' progressively building. Rather, science is radical reinterpretation. What seems solid (Newtonian physics, Euclidean geometry) is overtaken. This has implications for how we regard current science: it too will likely be superseded. This encouraged scientific humility while maintaining confidence in the method of critical testing.