Abstract

Jarvie’s main claims in this book are that Popper’s account of scientific methodology requires institutions and traditions and that his body of work articulates this controversial relation. The logical problem of demarcating scientific statements and attitudes from others is inevitably linked with the sociological problem of demarcating the institution of science from others. Simply put, the solution to the former requires a solution to the latter. Falsifiability is a logical property; falsification is not. All methods are social and, with this in mind, Jarvie compels us to notice that Popper’s works provide the normative constitution for what society and the republic of science should be.