Submitted by: Submitted by os5j5w
Views: 10
Words: 8308
Pages: 34
Category: Philosophy and Psychology
Date Submitted: 09/03/2016 01:39 AM
The British Society for the Philosophy of Science
Proofs and Refutations (II)
Author(s): I. Lakatos
Source: The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 14, No. 54 (Aug., 1963), pp.
120-139
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Society for the
Philosophy of Science
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/685430
Accessed: 01-09-2016 04:40 UTC
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
The British Society for the Philosophy of Science, Oxford University Press are
collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The British Journal for the
Philosophy of Science
This content downloaded from 129.94.8.252 on Thu, 01 Sep 2016 04:40:25 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
PROOFS AND REFUTATIONS (II)*
I. LAKATOS
(c) Improving the conjecture by exception-barring methods. Piecemeal
exclusions. Strategic withdrawal or playing for safety
BETA: I suppose, sir, you are going to explain your puzzling
remarks. But, with all apologies for my impatience, I must get this
off my chest.
TEACHER: Go on.
(ALPHA re-enters.)
BETA: I find some aspects of Delta's arguments silly, but I have
come to believe that there is a reasonable kernel to them. It now
seems to me that no conjecture is generally valid, but only valid in a
certain restricted domain that excludes the exceptions. I am against
dubbing these exceptions 'monsters' or 'pathological cases'. That
would amount to the methodological decision not to consider these as
interesting examples in their...