[Foundation-l] WMF Development and Memes

[Mike Godwin]

I wrote:

>  It's a hypothesis, not data.  For my take on the meaning of
> "hypothesis," see Karl Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery
> (1959).  Because there is much about the world that cannot be known
> with certainty, it is important to favor what Popper calls "critical
> rationalism" rather than "justificationism."  We are compelled to work
> with hypotheses all the time.

Having cited one of my favorite philosophers, I realize I didn't name  
the book that is an even better introduction to critical rationalism  
and to his thinking about hypotheses both within the scientific world  
and outside it.  That book is CONJECTURES AND REFUTATIONS, and it is  
fundamentally a collection of essays and papers, so more digestible  
for ordinary readers than THE LOGIC OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY.

See also Bryan Magee's KARL POPPER.


--Mike