On Popper’s Indeterminism

Karl Popper is one of the most influential scientific philosopher of the 20th century, his indeterminism has played an important role for his scientific philosophy and philosophical system. Through the research status of Popper, we find that the study about Popper’s historical indeterminism is abundant, but the study about his whole indeterminism is slightly insufficient. Therefore, depend on the existing research, this paper tries to draw quantum theory, probability explain and free will into his indeterminism study. Respectively from the concepts of determinism and indeterminism,we can investigate and analyze his indeterminism’s background. Depending on classical physics, quantum mechanics, and the theory of nonlinear dynamics, we can find out that there are two aspects (retorting the determinism and demonstrating the indeterminism) which construct Popper’s ideas of indeterminism. And then we can answer the question how is Popper’s indeterminism to set up. As for the main content of Popper’s indeterminism, we can analyze its essence, composition and the philosophical effect.In particular, Popper’s indeterminism is a kind of comprehensive indeterminism. Its essence lies in: firstly it is indeterministic, otherwise it is impossible to prove how is Popper’s indeterminism to set up. Then it is comprehensive, not only to a certain extent comprehensive with deterministic factors but also with probability, the tendency, the free will. We think Popper’s comprehensive indetenninism had broken the traditional demarcation standards between determinism and indeterminism. And he treated classical physics as a kind of essential indeterminism. In a certain extent, indeterminism had the feature of metaphysics. These had become important basis for his comprehensive indeterminism. On the one hand, Popper’s indeterminism mainly integrated his philosophy of science. Popper’s indeterminism played a guiding role for the idea of his whole philosophy system. The development of indeterminism promoted the development of Popper’s philosophy system. Because his indeterminism itself had the external openness and internal creation features, no matter from the longitudinal development of the human social history or from the transverse development of Popper’s philosophy of science, political philosophy, it may be expanded. In a certain sense, an open and creative indeterminism could guide and promote the progress of Popper’s philosophy system. On the other hand, through the discussing of Popper’s indeterminism, we can expand the longitudinal research depth of indeterminism and further enrich the research contents of Popper’s indeterminism. Thus the author tries to give three kinds of research approaches; critiquing the instrumentalism and promoting the interpretation of tendency; critiquing the inductivism and promoting the application of probability statistics; critiquing the essentialism and promoting the infiltration of postmodern factors.Finally, we should give more objective and reasonable evaluation about Popper’s indeterminism. Through listing the view of Reichenbach, Schlick and Heisenberg’s indeterminism, and to compare them with Popper’s point of view in order to clear the similarity and the difference, thus to achieve overall understanding of Popper’s indeterminism. At the same time, it’s easy to ignore the view that Popper had not completely denied determinism. And although Popper had noticed that indeterminism was not enough, but there is no clear for us how to solve this situation. Though this is good for the later researchers to understand and develop Popper’s indeterminism well, but this is also difficult for us to study and expand his indeterminism accurately. The study of this article shows that Popper’s indeterminism is a comprehensive theory of indeterminism which relates with determinism, probability, tendency, free will, the World 3 and the openness theory. And it is an associated picture which bases on the compatibility and openness. It is not only a possible solution for the long battle over the determinism and indeterminism, but also plays an integration and guiding role for Popper’s own theoretical system. Even for the philosophy of science, it not only deepens our understanding of indeterminism to encourage us to be used in a broader sense of indeterminism terms, also deepens on quantum mechanics, nonlinear dynamics and molecular understanding of the theory of complexity science, such as promoting the progress of the development of complexity science and philosophy of science. The study of Popper’s indeterminism is not only beneficial to promote the growth of scientific knowledge, but also to avoid risk, to inspire innovative spirit, so as to promote the benign development of science and technology.