How to look at Popper and Kuhn s scientific concept of development

The Current Situation of Psychology In the trend of rapid development of contemporary science, the evolution of psychology into a science has been enormous. Let's consider Yeonte's psychology at the end of the 19th century as the beginning of modern psychology. Wundt's "New Psychology", as an experimental science, was the only psychological system at that time.

Still, not everyone is optimistic about the future of psychology. 1892 William? James (W.)

James (1842-1910) said of psychology that "a series of simple facts, some ramblings and quarrels of opinions, some categorizations and generalizations at the level of simple descriptions, but none of them are sufficient to be laws in the physical sense." It's not science, it's just the hope of becoming a science. Psychology is currently in the pre-Galileo state of physics, in the pre-Lavoisier state of chemistry.

This was about 100 years ago. Since then, psychology has gone through a century of struggle for the status of science to get to where it is today. We should note that chemistry and physiology before the middle of the 19th century experienced the same struggle for the status of science.

Psychology is particularly impressed by their spirit, and even absorbs concepts and methods from them, adopting the same strict standards as physics and chemistry, and striving to be recognized by the academic community. Wundt was the first to propose a complete system of psychology. In fact, at that time, the conditions for the formation of a complete system of psychology were not ripe.

Wundt, the father of modern psychology, is like the first explorer to set foot in the New World, from the local landscape.

You can definitely see it!

Popper's and Kuhn's models of scientific development are compared as follows:

1.Similarities

1) Both oppose the static growth process of scientific knowledge and emphasize the dynamic growth process of knowledge. Logical positivism treats the development of science as the accumulation of empirical facts, from factual material to factual material as a simple process of verification; Popper's falsificationism, on the other hand, holds that science is developed through falsification, and that facts that cannot be falsified cannot be called science; Kuhn also rejects the view that the simple generalization of empirical facts is scientific, and that scientific knowledge is constantly growing by new paradigms replacing old ones.

2) Both emphasize the revolutionary character of scientific development. Popper believed that the process of scientific development is a process of constant falsification, constant revolution, and qualitative change; Kuhn sees the development of science as a process of revolution in the "paradigm", a process in which the new paradigm replaces the old paradigm.

3) Both emphasize the role of irrational factors in the development of science. The development of science is the result of the joint action of rational and irrational factors of the subject. Logical positivism holds that rational factors such as induction, deduction, analysis and synthesis play a decisive role in the development of science, and excludes irrational factors. However, both falsificationism and paradigm theory pay attention to the irrational factor, arguing that human irrationality sometimes plays a fundamental decisive role.

2.Differences

1) The logical starting point of scientific development is different. The logical starting point of Popper's scientific development is "problem", and the development of science is from problem to problem, which is the source of the growth of scientific knowledge, and it is in this way that we have the motivation to solve problems and develop knowledge; In Kuhn's view, the logical starting point of the development of science is the "paradigm", and the problem must be guided by the "paradigm" in order for science to make progress.

2) The criteria for scientific progress are different. The criterion for Popper's scientific progress is the testability of a theory, that is, the degree of falsification, if a theory has withstood the test, then it is scientific, and vice versa is non-scientific; Science is evolving along this standard. According to Kuhn, a progressive theory must possess five characteristics:

Precision, consistency, extensiveness, simplicity and fruitfulness.

3) The process of scientific development is different. Both falsificationism and paradigm theory emphasize the role of revolution, but Popper's hypocrisy emphasizes the qualitative change of scientific development, highlights the process of "falsification", and ignores the accumulation process of quantitative change, which is a kind of "one-time revolutionary theory". Kuhn's "paradigm" model of scientific development takes into account the gradual accumulation process, that is, the role of conventional science, which is a unified process of quantitative and qualitative change, continuity and interruption, which can be regarded as "the theory of alternating development of science" in this sense.

Kuhn believed that the development of science is the unity of opposites between quantitative and qualitative change, affirmation and negation, evolution and revolution. It can be said that in some respects or to a certain extent, it reflects the trend and characteristics of scientific development, and is more in line with the historical facts of scientific development than Popper. But its limitations are also obvious:

1.Kuhn believes that the paradigm is the common belief of the scientific community, so he regards the replacement of the paradigm not as the deepening of understanding, but as the transformation process of their inner beliefs or religious beliefs, which fundamentally denies the internal connection and law of scientific development, and is an irrational view. 2.

Kuhn, like Popper, did not admit that the qualitative change and leap of science was based on the long-term accumulation of human knowledge. He believes that there is a radical and absolute change between the old and new paradigms, and that they are broken and have no connection with each other. Thus, Kuhn also denied the continuity, inheritance, and progress of scientific development.