Hi Julian, No problem with any of your statements--I don't think falsifiability is of much use in assessing the truth of theories either. What I was objecting to was "developments" of theory which make it non-falsifiable. And you have a case of mistaken identity: I didn't make any comments about empirical research--I think Allin or Paul did that. Cheers, Steve At 13:33 20/10/00 +0100, you wrote: >Steve > >You might want to hold back on the thanks somewhat -- what I agree with in >falsificationism is its use as a test of bona fides: I certainly *don't* >think it's (usually) much use in assessing the truth of theories. > >This is for a reason which you bring out in another post: empirical evidence >is rarely terribly conclusive, even if we leave the D-Q problem aside. > >Moreover, I'm surprised to see you instancing statistical testing of >hypotheses, since falsification seems to be something that stat.s tests are >intrinsically incapable of producing. > >Your account of your econometric work seemed to say that there have been >(many?) occasions when the evidence, when it has become available, has >lowered your degree of belief in your initial hypotheses. > >This, of course, is Bayesianism, which has always seemed to me highly >effective as both description of and prescription for actual practice in >empirical testing. > >Julian > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Steve Keen [SMTP:s.keen@uws.edu.au] >> Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2000 11:13 PM >> To: ope-l@galaxy.csuchico.edu >> Subject: [OPE-L:4171] Re: Who agrees with Popper? >> >> Dear Julian, >> >> Thank you thank you thank you! -:) >> Steve >> At 21:11 19/10/00 +0100, you wrote: >> >It's annoying to have to put in a good word for this vastly-over-rated >> (not >> >least by himself) thinker -- but falsifiability is *quite* a good idea as >> a >> >test of whether a set of notions is, so to speak, advanced in good faith. >> >(And his anecdote against Adler, which he uses to illustrate his >> >disillusionment with confirmationism, is certainly both funny and >> >well-directed). >> > > Dr. Steve Keen Senior Lecturer Economics & Finance University of Western Sydney Macarthur Building 11 Room 30, Goldsmith Avenue, Campbelltown PO Box 555 Campbelltown NSW 2560 Australia s.keen@uws.edu.au 61 2 4620-3016 Fax 61 2 4626-6683 Home 02 9558-8018 Mobile 0409 716 088 Home Page: http://bus.macarthur.uws.edu.au/steve-keen/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Oct 31 2000 - 00:00:10 EST