?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Popper's+Paradoxical+Pursuit+of+Natural+Philosophy&rft.creator=Maxwell%2C+Nicholas&rft.subject=Cosmology&rft.subject=Philosophers+of+Science&rft.subject=Physics&rft.description=Philosophy+of+science+is+seen+by+most+as+a+meta-discipline+%E2%80%93+one+that+takes+science+as+its+subject+matter%2C+and+seeks+to+acquire+knowledge+and+understanding+about+science+without+in+any+way+affecting%2C+or+contributing+to%2C+science+itself.+Karl+Popper%E2%80%99s+approach+is+very+different.+His+first+love+is+natural+philosophy+or%2C+as+he+would+put+it%2C+cosmology.+This+intermingles+cosmology+and+the+rest+of+natural+science+with+epistemology%2C+methodology+and+metaphysics.+Paradoxically%2C+however%2C+one+of+his+best+known+contributions%2C+his+proposed+solution+to+the+problem+of+demarcation%2C+helps+to+maintain+the+gulf+that+separates+science+from+metaphysics%2C+thus+fragmenting+cosmology+into+falsifiable+science+on+the+one+hand%2C+untestable+philosophy+on+the+other.+This+has+damaging+repercussions+for+a+number+of+issues+Popper+tackles%2C+from+the+problem+of+induction+to+simplicity+of+theory+and+quantum+theory.+But+his+proposed+solution+to+the+demarcation+problem+is+untenable.+Metaphysical+assumptions+are+an+integral+part+of+scientific+knowledge%2C+inherent+in+the+persistent+acceptance+of+unified+theories+against+the+evidence.+Once+this+is+appreciated%2C+it+becomes+obvious+that+natural+philosophy%2C+a+synthesis+of+science+and+philosophy%2C+is+both+more+rigorous+and+of+greater+intellectual+value+than+the+two+dissociated+components+we+have+today.+What+Popper+sought+for+could+come+to+full+fruition.+Problems+that+Popper+tackled%2C+from+the+problem+of+induction%2C+to+the+problem+of+unity+of+theory%2C+problems+of+quantum+theory%2C+and+problems+concerning+the+scope+and+limits+of+physics%2C+all+receive+more+adequate+resolution+within+the+new%2C+fully-fledged+natural+philosophy.&rft.date=2004-07&rft.type=Preprint&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=doc&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fphilsci-archive.pitt.edu%2F2246%2F1%2FPopper's_Paradoxical_Pursuit_of_Natural_Philosophy.doc&rft.identifier=Maxwell%2C+Nicholas+(2004)+Popper's+Paradoxical+Pursuit+of+Natural+Philosophy.+[Preprint]&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fphilsci-archive.pitt.edu%2F2246%2