CF·Dictionary

Traditions 75 of 217 entries

Critical Rationalism

CR

Karl Popper’s epistemology: knowledge grows by conjecture and refutation, never by justification or induction.

  1. № 003 Argument Strength The widespread idea that arguments and evidence carry varying degrees of strength or weight that can be summed and compared to decide which idea is best.
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  2. № 007 Auxiliary Hypotheses Problem The danger that a refuted theory can be saved by ad hoc add-ons that block the contradiction without genuinely improving the theory.
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  3. № 013 Binary Evaluation Judging each factor or idea as pass (1) or fail (0) by whether it is good enough for the goal, so that any single failure sinks the whole.
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  4. № 018 Bucket Theory of Mind Popper's name for the mistaken view that the mind passively accumulates knowledge as raw observations pour in through the senses, like water filling an empty bucket.
  5. № 021 Certainty An error-proof, guaranteed status for an idea, which CF holds is unattainable because we can never get 100% certain proof of anything.
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  6. № 026 Concepts (Concept-Formation) Mental integrations that unite many particulars into a single unit, formed by distinguishing essentials from non-essentials.
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    • Oism
  7. № 029 Conjecture and Refutation The method of learning by creating ideas as fallible guesses and seeking errors to eliminate them: brainstorming plus critical thinking.
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  8. № 034 Content over Source Ideas should be evaluated by what they actually say, not by who said them or how they were produced.
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  9. № 036 Contextual Knowledge The view that an idea is always evaluated relative to a goal and context, so whether it succeeds or fails is context-dependent and a changed context can demand reassessment.
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  10. № 037 Corroboration Popper's term for a theory having survived severe testing so far, explicitly not confirmation or positive support, leaving the theory a conjecture.
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  11. № 039 Critical Fallibilism Elliot Temple's rational philosophy that evaluates ideas in a binary, error-correction way and acts only on ideas with no known refutation, synthesizing Critical Rationalism, Theory of Constraints, and Objectivism.
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  12. № 040 Critical Preferences Popper's method of choosing, among non-refuted rival theories, the one judged best after weighing how vigorously it was criticized and how well it survived.
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  13. № 041 Critical Rationalism Karl Popper's fallibilist, evolutionary epistemology: knowledge grows by conjecture and criticism, not by induction or justification.
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  14. № 042 Criticism An explanation of why an idea fails at a goal, contradicting the idea so the two cannot both be accepted.
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  15. № 045 Debate Policy A publicly written, advance-committed document specifying which topics you will debate, with whom, and by what methods, so that refusals are transparent, predictable, and open to criticism.
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  16. № 046 Debates A discussion focused on resolving a specific disagreement, valued because it is the social mechanism best suited to actually getting errors corrected.
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  17. № 047 Decisive Consideration A single factor that by itself settles whether an option succeeds or fails at a goal, regardless of how it scores on everything else.
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  18. № 048 Decisive Criticism A criticism logically incompatible with the idea it targets, so accepting it forbids accepting the idea; it either refutes the idea or accomplishes nothing, with no degree in between.
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  19. № 051 Demarcation Problem The problem of distinguishing genuine empirical science from non-science, which Popper answered with falsifiability rather than verifiability.
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  20. № 058 Empiricism (CR Critique) The doctrine that knowledge is derived from sensory experience; Critical Rationalism rejects this as a source of justification while keeping empirical testing as a way to find errors.
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  21. № 059 Endless Meta Levels The threat that a disagreement can regress without limit into meta-discussion about how to discuss, which CF manages with logical priority, repetition limits, and reusable written reasons.
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  22. № 060 Error An error is a reason that an idea fails at a goal in a context.
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  23. № 062 Error Correction Finding and fixing mistakes; CF treats one's error-correction ability as a budgetable resource whose rate must keep pace with the rate of making errors.
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  24. № 071 Evolutionary Epistemology The theory that all knowledge is created by evolution — replication with variation and selection — with ideas evolving literally as genes do.
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  25. № 073 Explanation An account of how or why something is so; in CF a criticism counts only when it explains why an idea fails at a purpose, not merely scores it.
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  26. № 074 Explanatory Error Correction Fixing an error by explaining what is wrong with an idea and devising a different solution that no longer has that flaw.
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  27. № 078 Fallibilism The position that people can always err and no idea can be guaranteed true, so any belief might turn out mistaken.
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  28. № 079 Fallible Ideas Elliot Temple's pre-CF body of philosophy and its discussion community, synthesizing Popper, Rand, Deutsch, and Godwin, which Critical Fallibilism develops further.
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    • Oism
  29. № 080 Falsifiability A theory is falsifiable when it forbids some observable outcomes, so that evidence could in principle contradict it; Popper's mark of empirical claims.
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  30. № 090 Gradations of Certainty The practice of ranking non-refuted ideas by assigning them degrees of support, probability, or confidence rather than judging them as refuted or not.
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  31. № 095 Idea Trees Tree diagrams that map the structure of an argument or discussion, showing which ideas reply to which and which criticisms remain unanswered.
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  32. № 096 Idea Variant A modified version of an idea that counts as a new idea and may survive in a context where the original was refuted.
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  33. № 099 Impasse A participant's signal that the discussion process itself has stopped working, which takes priority over continuing the original topic.
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  34. № 100 Impasse Chains A nesting of impasses—where failure to resolve an impasse about a prior impasse becomes the next-level impasse—giving a fair, finite way to conclude a debate unilaterally.
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  35. № 102 Induction The supposed method of deriving general theories from observations; CF rejects it as a myth, since infinitely many patterns fit any finite data and evidence can only contradict ideas, never support them.
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  36. № 104 Infallibilism The rejected view that infallible knowledge - a 100% guarantee against error, such as certainty or proof of truth - is attainable.
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  37. № 113 Irrationality as Blocking Error Correction Irrationality is whatever blocks error correction or prevents problem-solving, not a matter of low intelligence or strong feelings.
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  38. № 114 Justificationism The mistaken doctrine that positive arguments, evidence, or proofs can establish how good or true an idea is; CF rejects it for criticism-only evaluation.
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  39. № 115 Knowledge Error-corrected information adapted to a purpose; more and better error correction yields more knowledge, which is attainable without certainty.
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  40. № 117 Learner-Driven Learning The principle that the learner is the active agent who creates and tests their own knowledge, always doing most of the work, while teachers play only a secondary role.
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  41. № 118 Library of Criticisms A built-up store of written, reusable criticisms aimed at whole categories of bad ideas, so a single refutation answers many arguments instead of being re-argued each time.
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  42. № 129 Multi-Factor Decision Making Choosing among options by combining many factors from different dimensions instead of optimizing a single criterion.
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  43. № 130 Multiplication of Binaries Combining many pass/fail factors by multiplying their 1s and 0s, so a single zero on any necessary factor fails the whole option.
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  44. № 132 Non-Contradiction as Failure to Contradict The relation between two ideas that do not conflict is merely the absence of a contradiction, never positive support for either.
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  45. № 133 Non-Contradictory Integration The aim of combining all of one's knowledge into a single consistent whole with no contradictions left standing between its parts.
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    • Oism
  46. № 134 Non-Justificationist Learning The view that we make intellectual progress without ever positively supporting ideas, advancing only by finding and rejecting errors.
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  47. № 135 Non-Refuted Idea An idea with no currently known error against it, which is the best status any idea can hold and the only proper basis for action.
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  48. № 136 Not Blocking Error Correction Refusing to use filters like status, popularity, topic, or apparent craziness to dismiss ideas without argument, since such filters can hide your biggest mistakes.
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  49. № 137 Objective Truth The view that reality exists independently of our minds and that we can gain real, though always fallible, knowledge about it.
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  50. № 138 Objectivity Recognizing that reality exists independently of any mind and can only be known by reason applied in accordance with logic, against subjectivism and relativism.
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  51. № 140 Observation and Interpretation We never take in neutral raw data; what we observe is selected and interpreted in light of ideas, goals, and expectations we already hold.
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  52. № 146 Paths Forward A methodology for organizing one's ideas and discussion so that errors others already understand can actually reach and correct you.
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  53. № 148 Patterns, Similarity and Relevance The Popperian position that learning is not extrapolation of patterns from repeated observation, because which patterns, similarities and relevances count is decided by prior critical ideas, not read off the data.
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  54. № 151 Piecemeal Reform Improving knowledge by making small, testable changes to what already exists rather than discarding it for a wholesale revolutionary redesign.
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  55. № 153 Positive vs Negative Arguments The asymmetry whereby a single negative argument can show an idea is broken, while no quantity of positive arguments can rule out a decisive flaw, so CF treats criticism as primary.
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  56. № 160 Prerequisites of Debate The conditions a debate needs before it can productively correct error rather than degenerate into disorganized adversarial talk.
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  57. № 163 Problem of Induction The unsolved problem of how general conclusions could ever be derived or justified from particular observations, which Popper held is insoluble because induction does not exist.
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  58. № 164 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.
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  59. № 166 Proof A purported demonstration that an idea is true; CF holds positive proof of truth is unavailable and that demanding proof is not itself a criticism.
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  60. № 171 Reason The best ways of using your mind to find and correct errors, judging ideas by whether they solve their problem in context rather than by any guarantee of truth.
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  61. № 173 Reason vs Observation The rejection of any forced choice between thinking and observing: both pure rationalism and pure empiricism are mistaken extremes, since reason and observation work together.
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  62. № 174 Refutation The binary status an idea acquires when a known error is identified against it; a refuted idea has a known error, a non-refuted one currently has none.
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  63. № 175 Rejecting on the Merits Openly declining a debate or topic for a stated, criticizable reason, while accepting that you no longer get to claim you have refuted the opposing view.
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  64. № 176 Representatives A person, or oneself, who takes responsibility for a school of thought's positions and is willing to address criticism on its behalf, giving its ideas a path forward.
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  65. № 179 Searchlight Theory of Mind Popper's view that the mind actively shines attention like a searchlight, selecting what to observe according to prior theories, rather than passively soaking up data.
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  66. № 180 Severe Tests Risky tests a theory will probably fail unless it is true, designed to seek errors rather than confirm; surviving one yields corroboration, never proof.
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  67. № 182 Single Answer Principle One well-written, reusable answer can refute an argument for everyone who makes it, so a refutation is authored once and reused indefinitely rather than rewritten per opponent.
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  68. № 197 Taking Responsibility for Ideas Putting your positions in writing (or endorsing others' writing as your own) so you are accountable for those claims and for any flaws in arguments you cite.
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  69. № 198 Tentativity Holding your best current ideas as fallible and revisable while still committing to act on them seriously now.
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  70. № 206 Truth Correspondence to a reality that exists independently of us and that we can come to know about, while never being certain we have reached it.
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    • Oism
  71. № 207 Unbounded Criticism Treating every part of a position as open to criticism, with no premises declared off-limits or shielded from challenge.
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  72. № 212 Verisimilitude Popper's notion of how close a false theory is to the truth, meant to express scientific progress as the accumulation of truth content over falsity content.
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  73. № 215 World 3 Popper's category for the objective contents of thought—theories, arguments, problems—which exist and can be criticized independently of any mind that thinks them.
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  74. № 216 Written Public Positions Putting your positions into public, stable writing (or endorsing someone else's) so disagreements are addressable and others can correct you.
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  75. № 217 Yes or No Philosophy Temple's framework that idea evaluation is fundamentally binary: you judge an idea refuted or non-refuted for a purpose, never scoring its degree of goodness.
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