On Popper's Shifting Appraisal of Scientific Status of Darwinian Theory

Abstract

The appraisal of scientific status of evolution is a great attempt by Karl Popper to combine Darwinian theory with its falsification theory system. Compared with other natural science theories, Darwinian theory occupies a special and important position in his philosophy of science system. Popper's appraisal of the scientific status of Darwinian theory has experienced a long process from "singular historical statement" to "metaphysical research programme" and to "scientific theory", shifting from denial to approval. The primary reason for this change lies in that Popper has corrected his previous misunderstanding of Darwinism and proved that it is indeed falsifiable. On the one hand, this comes from a flow of new discoveries of biology, on the other hand, it is also the expression of the continuous maturity of his philosophy. However, Popper has never completely gotten rid of the framework of physics to examine Darwinism, so his evaluation of whether evolution theory is science doesn’t change completely.