Positivism vs Realism

[James Francis Lyons-Weiler]

y
>       If I hypothesized that aliens manipulated the species'
>       occurences, now that's a bold ad-hoc hypothesis.

No James, it is oulandish, not bold. Popper uses the term boldness in
a precise manner to refer to hypotheses which have great generality,
great CONTENT, and thus great testability. They are bold because they
seek to explain A LOT. Your alien hypothesis has none of those
qualities.

        Baloney!  If it were tested, and couldn't be falsified,
        imagine the impact, the new information.

        Ad-hocness is a "for the time being" characteristic
        of a hypothesis - like corroboration.

        JLW

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