Marginalizing discovery: Karl Popper's intellectual roots in psychology; Or, how the study of discovery was banned from science studies

Journal/Book: Creativity Res J. 1996; 9: 355 Chestnut St, Norwood, NJ 07648. Ablex Publ Corp. 173-187.

Abstract: Karl Popper's intellectual roots in psychology are shown to be decisive for his later dismissal of psychology in science studies. In 1928, Popper completed his doctorate under the supervision of the psychologist and psycholinguist Karl Buhler. Popper's dissertation addressed the question of methodology in the psychology of thinking. With his dissertation topic, Popper took up an issue that was central to the research tradition with which Buhler was affiliated-a tradition leading back to the work of the psychologist and initiator of the Wurzburg school, Oswald Kulpe. The work of Kulpe and Buhler is discussed, and the line of intellectual descent from Kulpe to Buhler to Popper is elaborated. Popper's first important philosophical manuscript was only partially published as his famous The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1935/1959); the remaining parts, published only much later (1979), show Popper's transition from a psychologist with a strong inclination toward philosophy to a philosopher of science with a background in psychology. I argue that the elements that Popper extracted from the psychology with which he was acquainted furnished the basis for his dismissal of the study of discovery and the ''black-boxing'' of scientific creativity.

Note: Article EM Kurz, Bowling Green State Univ, Dept Psychol, Bowling Green, OH 43403 USA

Keyword(s): DISCONFIRMATION; CONFIRMATION

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