Science and Scepticism

"Science and skepticism," by Professor John Watkins, the successor of Karl Popper in the Philosophy chair at LSE: London School of Economics, was said to be a "symphony." And indeed it is. The course of the arguments starts from no less than trying to respond to Hume's skeptical objection against empirical knowledge, without denying the core of his insights. Or else, to refresh well-tempered rationalism from where Descartes failed. The task unfolds through a thorough revision of the relevant facets of the skeptical theses, to display, probe, and ponder every possible anti-skeptic strategic sways, once tailored to meet "The Skeptic." Dwelling through probabilism, inductivism, anti-deductivism, deductivism, conjecturalism, corroborationism, fallibilism, relativism, falsificationism, and transcendentalism, professor Watkins eventually advances a strongly entrenched statement of a neo-Popperian epistemology built on an "optimal aim" for science. Some tagged this statement as a "Critical Rationalism" version. The book prose is quite a clear one while addressing conceptual issues. But exposition includes plenty of unavoidable details involving formulae, deep-level symbolization resources, and very refined issues running deeply from within highly technical disputes pervaded with embedded logical/mathematical usage. The informed reader must master advanced resources of logic and probability to get the bulk value of the book. Still, professor Watkins himself will early in the text provide a map of the sections that a less acquainted reader could skip if he/she needs to avoid dense logical and mathematical flow. For both trained and skippers, interested in Neo-Popperian and Post-Popperian epistemology, the book is a must.