Conclusions

Abstract

The manner in which scientists respond to the discovery of empirical anomalies has been at the center of philosophical controversies about the process of scientific development. Popper’s logic of scientific discovery, based on the methodology of falsification, requires that the search for anomalies, for discrepancies between observational statements and theoretical predictions, constitute the primary goal of scientific research and the linchpin of scientific methodology. Once an anomaly is discovered, he argues, a theory needs to be modified or replaced by a new one able to cope with the anomalous phenomenon in addition to all the phenomena explained by the old theory. This model of scientific development rests on the assumption that there are invariable ahistorical criteria of rationality which assure the orderly cumulative growth of scientific knowledge.