Larry Laudan

Larry Laudan was an American philosopher of science known for developing an influential problem-solving model of scientific progress that challenged the accounts of both Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn. In his 1977 book Progress and Its Problems, Laudan argued that scientific progress should be measured by a theory's overall effectiveness at solving empirical and conceptual problems, rather than by strict falsification as Popper had proposed or by wholesale paradigm replacement as Kuhn had described, and he introduced the concept of research traditions, broad sets of methodological and metaphysical commitments, as an alternative to Imre Lakatos's related idea of research programs. Laudan is also known for articulating the pessimistic induction, the argument that because many past scientific theories once considered empirically successful were later found to be false, the empirical success of a current theory provides only weak grounds for believing it to be true, an argument that became a central challenge to scientific realism. Beyond general philosophy of science, Laudan wrote extensively on legal epistemology, applying philosophical analysis of evidence and inference to standards of proof in criminal and civil law, as well as on the study of risk and hazard. Laudan held a doctorate in philosophy from Princeton University and taught at institutions including the University of Hawaii and the University of Texas at Austin.