Critical Rationalism and the Internet
The aim of this paper is to consider whether critical rationalism has any ideas which could usefully be applied to the internet. Today we tend to take the internet for granted and it is easy to forget that it was only about two decades ago that it began to be used to any significant extent. Accordi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Tabriz, Faculty of Literature and Forigen Languages
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Journal of Philosophical Investigations |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://philosophy.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_16573_d1b2f3a2966be0a3423e1c40a25301cf.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797694545599660032 |
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| author | Donald Gillies |
| author_facet | Donald Gillies |
| author_sort | Donald Gillies |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The aim of this paper is to consider whether critical rationalism has any ideas which could usefully be applied to the internet. Today we tend to take the internet for granted and it is easy to forget that it was only about two decades ago that it began to be used to any significant extent. Accordingly in section 1 of the paper, there is a brief consideration of the history of the internet. At first sight this makes it looks implausible that any of Popper’s ideas could be applicable to the internet, since Popper died before the internet came into general use. However, section 2 argues that Popper’s theory of World 3 does apply very well to the internet. This application is significant because, as shown in section 3, it leads to the problem of misinformation, which is one of the most significant problems generated by the internet. In section 4 there is an attempt to solve this problem using ideas taken from Popper’s epistemology. It is argued that there should be changes in education designed to prepare students for the internet age. Teaching in the internet age should focus on presenting to the students not just the accepted theories but also the evidence on which they are based. An illustration of how this might be done is given by considering an example from science teaching, namely the teaching of Newtonian mechanics in the last years of school or first years of university. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T02:59:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d0adada20be74709a2155a1909dfdd3f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2251-7960 2423-4419 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T02:59:29Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | University of Tabriz, Faculty of Literature and Forigen Languages |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Philosophical Investigations |
| spelling | doaj.art-d0adada20be74709a2155a1909dfdd3f2023-09-03T15:04:21ZengUniversity of Tabriz, Faculty of Literature and Forigen LanguagesJournal of Philosophical Investigations2251-79602423-44192023-05-011742809010.22034/jpiut.2000.1657316573Critical Rationalism and the InternetDonald Gillies0Emeritus Professor at University College London – EnglandThe aim of this paper is to consider whether critical rationalism has any ideas which could usefully be applied to the internet. Today we tend to take the internet for granted and it is easy to forget that it was only about two decades ago that it began to be used to any significant extent. Accordingly in section 1 of the paper, there is a brief consideration of the history of the internet. At first sight this makes it looks implausible that any of Popper’s ideas could be applicable to the internet, since Popper died before the internet came into general use. However, section 2 argues that Popper’s theory of World 3 does apply very well to the internet. This application is significant because, as shown in section 3, it leads to the problem of misinformation, which is one of the most significant problems generated by the internet. In section 4 there is an attempt to solve this problem using ideas taken from Popper’s epistemology. It is argued that there should be changes in education designed to prepare students for the internet age. Teaching in the internet age should focus on presenting to the students not just the accepted theories but also the evidence on which they are based. An illustration of how this might be done is given by considering an example from science teaching, namely the teaching of Newtonian mechanics in the last years of school or first years of university.https://philosophy.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_16573_d1b2f3a2966be0a3423e1c40a25301cf.pdfcritical rationalismthe internetworld 3misinformationpopper’s epistemology |
| spellingShingle | Donald Gillies Critical Rationalism and the Internet Journal of Philosophical Investigations critical rationalism the internet world 3 misinformation popper’s epistemology |
| title | Critical Rationalism and the Internet |
| title_full | Critical Rationalism and the Internet |
| title_fullStr | Critical Rationalism and the Internet |
| title_full_unstemmed | Critical Rationalism and the Internet |
| title_short | Critical Rationalism and the Internet |
| title_sort | critical rationalism and the internet |
| topic | critical rationalism the internet world 3 misinformation popper’s epistemology |
| url | https://philosophy.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_16573_d1b2f3a2966be0a3423e1c40a25301cf.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT donaldgillies criticalrationalismandtheinternet |