David Deutsch misquotes Karl Popper's The Myth of the Framework 2

Diff

The‧inductivist‧or‧Lamarckian‧approach‧operates‧with‧the‧idea‧of‧*instruction‧from‧without*,‧or‧from‧the‧environment.‧But‧the‧critical‧or‧Darwinian‧approach‧only‧allows‧only‧*instruction‧from‧within*‧–‧from‧within‧the‧structure‧itself.…↵
In‧fact,‧I‧contend‧that‧*there‧is‧no‧such‧thing‧as‧instruction‧from‧without‧the‧structure*,‧or‧the‧passive‧reception‧of‧a‧flow‧of‧information‧that‧impresses‧itself‧on‧our‧sense‧organs.‧All‧observations‧are‧theory-impregnated.‧There‧is‧no‧pure,‧disinterested,‧theory-free‧observation.‧(To‧see‧this,‧we‧may‧try,‧using‧a‧little‧imagination,‧to‧compare‧human‧observation‧with‧that‧of‧an‧ant‧or‧a‧spider.)↵
Francis‧Bacon‧was‧rightly‧worried‧about‧the‧fact‧that‧our‧theories‧may‧prejudice‧our‧observations.‧This‧led‧him‧to‧advise‧scientists‧that‧they‧should‧avoid‧prejudice‧by‧purifying‧their‧minds‧of‧all‧theories.‧Similar‧recipes‧are‧still‧given.^14‧But‧to‧attain‧objectivity‧we‧cannot‧rely‧on‧the‧empty‧mind.‧Objectivity‧rests‧on‧criticism,‧on‧critical‧discussion,‧and‧on‧the‧critical‧examination‧of‧experiments.^15‧And‧we‧must‧recognize,‧particularly,‧that‧our‧very‧sense‧organs‧incorporate‧what‧amount‧to‧prejudices.‧I‧have‧stressed‧before‧(in‧section‧II)‧that‧theories‧are‧like‧sense‧organs.‧Now‧I‧wish‧to‧stress‧that‧our‧sense‧organs‧are‧like‧theories.‧They‧*incorporate*‧adaptive‧theories‧(as‧has‧been‧shown‧in‧the‧case‧of‧rabbits‧and‧cats).‧And‧these‧theories‧are‧the‧result‧of‧natural‧selection.↵
↵
V↵
↵
However,‧not‧even‧Darwin‧or‧Wallace,‧not‧to‧mention‧Spencer,‧saw‧that‧there‧is‧no‧instruction‧from‧without.‧They‧did‧not‧operate‧with‧purely‧selectionist‧arguments.‧In‧fact,‧they‧frequently‧argued‧on‧Lamarckian‧lines.^16‧In‧this‧they‧seem‧to‧have‧been‧mistaken.‧Yet‧it‧may‧be‧worth‧while‧to‧speculate‧about‧possible‧limits‧to‧Darwinism.‧For‧we‧should‧always‧be‧on‧the‧lookout‧for‧possible‧alternatives‧to‧any‧dominant‧theory.↵
I‧think‧that‧two‧points‧might‧be‧made‧here.‧The‧first‧is‧that‧the‧argument‧against‧the‧genetic‧inheritance‧of‧acquired‧characteristics‧(such‧as‧mutilations)‧depends‧upon‧the‧existence‧of‧a‧genetic‧mechanism‧in‧which‧there‧is‧a‧fairly‧sharp‧distinction‧between‧the‧gene‧structure‧and‧the‧remaining‧part‧of‧the‧organism:‧the‧soma.‧But‧this‧genetic‧mechanism‧must‧itself‧be‧a‧late‧product‧of‧evolution,‧and‧it‧was‧undoubtedly‧preceded‧by‧various‧other‧mechanisms‧of‧a‧less‧sophisticated‧kind.‧Moreover,‧certain‧very‧special‧kinds‧of‧mutilations‧*are*‧inherited‧–‧more‧particularly,‧mutilations‧of‧the‧gene‧structure‧by‧radiation.‧Thus‧if‧we‧assume‧that‧the‧primeval‧organism‧was‧a‧naked‧gene,‧then‧we‧can‧even‧say‧that‧every‧non-lethal‧mutilation‧to‧this‧organism‧would‧be‧inherited.‧What‧we‧cannot‧say‧is‧that‧this‧fact‧contributes‧in‧any‧way‧to‧an‧explanation‧of‧genetic‧adaptation,‧or‧of‧genetic‧learning‧–‧except‧indirectly,‧via‧natural‧selection.↵
The‧second‧point‧is‧this.‧We‧may‧consider‧the‧very‧tentative‧conjecture‧that,‧as‧a‧somatic‧response‧to‧certain‧environmental‧pressures,‧some‧chemical‧mutagen‧is‧produced,‧increasing‧what‧is‧called‧the‧spontaneous‧mutation‧rate.‧This‧would‧be‧a‧kind‧of‧semi-Lamarckian‧effect,‧even‧though‧*adaptation*‧would‧still‧proceed‧only‧by‧the‧elimination‧of‧mutations‧–‧that‧is,‧by‧natural‧selection.‧Of‧course,‧there‧may‧not‧be‧much‧in‧this‧conjecture,‧as‧it‧seems‧that‧the‧spontaneous‧mutation‧rate‧suffices‧for‧adaptive‧evolution.^17↵
These‧two‧points‧are‧made‧here‧merely‧as‧a‧warning‧against‧too‧dogmatic‧an‧adherence‧to‧Darwinism.‧Of‧course,‧I‧do‧conjecture‧that‧Darwinism‧is‧right,‧even‧on‧the‧level‧of‧scientific‧discovery,‧and‧that‧it‧is‧right‧even‧beyond‧this‧level:‧that‧it‧is‧right‧even‧on‧the‧level‧of‧artistic‧creation.‧We‧do‧not‧discover‧new‧facts‧or‧new‧effects‧by‧copying‧them,‧or‧by‧inferring‧them‧inductively‧from‧observation,‧or‧by‧any‧other‧method‧of‧instruction‧by‧the‧environment.‧We‧use,‧rather,‧the‧method‧of‧trial‧and‧the‧elimination‧of‧error.‧As‧Ernst‧Gombrich‧says,‧‘making‧comes‧before‧matching’:^18‧the‧active‧production‧of‧a‧new‧trial‧structure‧comes‧before‧its‧exposure‧to‧eliminating‧tests.

The‧inductivist‧or‧Lamarckian‧approach‧operates‧with‧the‧idea‧of‧

*

instruction‧from‧without

*

,‧or‧from‧the‧environment.‧But‧the‧critical‧or‧Darwinian‧approach‧

only‧

allows‧

only‧*

instruction‧from‧within

*

‧–‧from‧within‧the‧structure‧itself

.

…

↵

In‧fact,‧

I‧contend‧that‧

*

there‧is‧no‧such‧thing‧as‧instruction‧from‧without‧the‧structure

*,‧or‧the‧passive‧reception‧of‧a‧flow‧of‧information‧that‧impresses‧itself‧on‧our‧sense‧organs.‧All‧observations‧are‧theory-impregnated.‧There‧is‧no‧pure,‧disinterested,‧theory-free‧observation.‧(To‧see‧this,‧we‧may‧try,‧using‧a‧little‧imagination,‧to‧compare‧human‧observation‧with‧that‧of‧an‧ant‧or‧a‧spider.)↵Francis‧Bacon‧was‧rightly‧worried‧about‧the‧fact‧that‧our‧theories‧may‧prejudice‧our‧observations.‧This‧led‧him‧to‧advise‧scientists‧that‧they‧should‧avoid‧prejudice‧by‧purifying‧their‧minds‧of‧all‧theories.‧Similar‧recipes‧are‧still‧given.^14‧But‧to‧attain‧objectivity‧we‧cannot‧rely‧on‧the‧empty‧mind.‧Objectivity‧rests‧on‧criticism,‧on‧critical‧discussion,‧and‧on‧the‧critical‧examination‧of‧experiments.^15‧And‧we‧must‧recognize,‧particularly,‧that‧our‧very‧sense‧organs‧incorporate‧what‧amount‧to‧prejudices.‧I‧have‧stressed‧before‧(in‧section‧II)‧that‧theories‧are‧like‧sense‧organs.‧Now‧I‧wish‧to‧stress‧that‧our‧sense‧organs‧are‧like‧theories.‧They‧*incorporate*‧adaptive‧theories‧(as‧has‧been‧shown‧in‧the‧case‧of‧rabbits‧and‧cats).‧And‧these‧theories‧are‧the‧result‧of‧natural‧selection.↵↵V↵↵However,‧not‧even‧Darwin‧or‧Wallace,‧not‧to‧mention‧Spencer,‧saw‧that‧there‧is‧no‧instruction‧from‧without.‧They‧did‧not‧operate‧with‧purely‧selectionist‧arguments.‧In‧fact,‧they‧frequently‧argued‧on‧Lamarckian‧lines.^16‧In‧this‧they‧seem‧to‧have‧been‧mistaken.‧Yet‧it‧may‧be‧worth‧while‧to‧speculate‧about‧possible‧limits‧to‧Darwinism.‧For‧we‧should‧always‧be‧on‧the‧lookout‧for‧possible‧alternatives‧to‧any‧dominant‧theory.↵I‧think‧that‧two‧points‧might‧be‧made‧here.‧The‧first‧is‧that‧the‧argument‧against‧the‧genetic‧inheritance‧of‧acquired‧characteristics‧(such‧as‧mutilations)‧depends‧upon‧the‧existence‧of‧a‧genetic‧mechanism‧in‧which‧there‧is‧a‧fairly‧sharp‧distinction‧between‧the‧gene‧structure‧and‧the‧remaining‧part‧of‧the‧organism:‧the‧soma.‧But‧this‧genetic‧mechanism‧must‧itself‧be‧a‧late‧product‧of‧evolution,‧and‧it‧was‧undoubtedly‧preceded‧by‧various‧other‧mechanisms‧of‧a‧less‧sophisticated‧kind.‧Moreover,‧certain‧very‧special‧kinds‧of‧mutilations‧*are*‧inherited‧–‧more‧particularly,‧mutilations‧of‧the‧gene‧structure‧by‧radiation.‧Thus‧if‧we‧assume‧that‧the‧primeval‧organism‧was‧a‧naked‧gene,‧then‧we‧can‧even‧say‧that‧every‧non-lethal‧mutilation‧to‧this‧organism‧would‧be‧inherited.‧What‧we‧cannot‧say‧is‧that‧this‧fact‧contributes‧in‧any‧way‧to‧an‧explanation‧of‧genetic‧adaptation,‧or‧of‧genetic‧learning‧–‧except‧indirectly,‧via‧natural‧selection.↵The‧second‧point‧is‧this.‧We‧may‧consider‧the‧very‧tentative‧conjecture‧that,‧as‧a‧somatic‧response‧to‧certain‧environmental‧pressures,‧some‧chemical‧mutagen‧is‧produced,‧increasing‧what‧is‧called‧the‧spontaneous‧mutation‧rate.‧This‧would‧be‧a‧kind‧of‧semi-Lamarckian‧effect,‧even‧though‧*adaptation*‧would‧still‧proceed‧only‧by‧the‧elimination‧of‧mutations‧–‧that‧is,‧by‧natural‧selection.‧Of‧course,‧there‧may‧not‧be‧much‧in‧this‧conjecture,‧as‧it‧seems‧that‧the‧spontaneous‧mutation‧rate‧suffices‧for‧adaptive‧evolution.^17↵These‧two‧points‧are‧made‧here‧merely‧as‧a‧warning‧against‧too‧dogmatic‧an‧adherence‧to‧Darwinism.‧Of‧course,‧I‧do‧conjecture‧that‧Darwinism‧is‧right,‧even‧on‧the‧level‧of‧scientific‧discovery,‧and‧that‧it‧is‧right‧even‧beyond‧this‧level:‧that‧it‧is‧right‧even‧on‧the‧level‧of‧artistic‧creation

.‧We‧do‧not‧discover‧new‧facts‧or‧new‧effects‧by‧copying‧them,‧or‧by‧inferring‧them‧inductively‧from‧observation,‧or‧by‧any‧other‧method‧of‧instruction‧by‧the‧environment.‧We‧use,‧rather,‧the‧method‧of‧trial‧and‧the‧elimination‧of‧error.‧As‧Ernst‧Gombrich‧says,‧‘making‧comes‧before‧matching’:

^18

‧the‧active‧production‧of‧a‧new‧trial‧structure‧comes‧before‧its‧exposure‧to‧eliminating‧tests.