Problem Solving
also Problem solving
Stating a problem, conjecturing solutions, and eliminating errors, with CF adding that you can always retreat to a higher meta level to find a solvable problem.
In Critical Rationalism, all life is problem solving: you state a problem, conjecture tentative solutions, and try to eliminate errors by criticism rather than justify ideas as probable or proven. CF inherits this and treats reason itself as goal-directed problem solving. Every idea has a goal or purpose it succeeds or fails at, so truth is just successful solutions to problems in their contexts. This reframes the central task of philosophy: not avoiding mistakes (the aim of justificationism, induction and foundationalism, which all fail because errors happen anyway) but correcting them after they occur.
CF’s distinctive contribution is using meta levels to guarantee you never stay stuck. A problem you cannot solve can be stepped over by asking a new question about that stuck situation: “given we don’t know X, what should we do now?” That higher-level problem does not depend on solving the original one, so a fresh, usually less ambitious, option always exists. Reaching meta level 10 hands you eleven candidate problems to attack, and you should be able to solve at least one. By deliberately lowering ambition under resource pressure, you can always find an action you have no criticism of.
Solutions come from brainstorming and conjecture and refutation, and are judged in a yes-or-no way, not by degree. CF is candid about limits: meta levels do not stop people who actively block error correction, and some problems resist being isolated for clean discussion.