The Legitimacy of the Criterion of Confirmability in Scientific Research

Abstract

Contemporary philosophy has acquired a prominent place in philosophical thought because of the great diversity of philosophical trends. It has addressed major problems for which science has been unable to provide solutions. Philosophy therefore approached the problems of science from an epistemological perspective, a development that became especially evident during the twentieth century. The relative character of scientific knowledge altered the way philosophers of science viewed questions concerning the nature and methods of the sciences. This was particularly apparent in attempts to establish the structure of scientific theory by identifying a fixed rule or criterion that distinguishes scientific from non-scientific knowledge. Among the foremost philosophers in this field was Carl Gustav Hempel, who proposed the principle of confirmation, or the criterion of confirmability.