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Topic:

Popper’s Test: The Gaia theory

Essay Instructions:

Write in a clear, direct style. Give as much introduction as you think is needed (perhaps not much) and then get straight down to answering the question.
It's not necessary to do a lot of extra reading in order to do well.
Conduct searchers on the world wide web with Google (or your preferred search engine). The resources of Google Scholar are really useful (http://www(dot)scholar(dot)google(dot)com) as they contain all electronic articles available.
The first very useful database is History of Science and Technology (HST), which is a comprehensive database for literature in the history, philosophy, and sociology of science.
Another very useful database is Factiva com, which provides access to articles in newspapers and magazines.
For your paper, you should locate both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are articles and statements made by scientists, practitioners, individuals, and commentators in the past. Secondary sources are generally written by historians, philosophers, and sociologists of science analysing developments in science.
You should explore the secondary literature relevant to your paper in order not to invent the wheel once more. The secondary literature is also helpful in formulating your thesis statement in suggesting ways in which your topic can be explored fruitfully. The secondary literature can provide examples of how the issues you address in your paper can be analysed and discussed. You should attempt to find some secondary sources first to explore your topic and gain a sense of what has been written about it. It can also guide you to interesting primary sources.
Your paper should include references to the primary literature since here developments in science can best be explored. References to the primary literature indicate that you have conducted independent research into your topic. Locating primary sources is one of the most important skills in the history, philosophy, and sociology of science.

Essay Sample Content Preview:
Popper’s Test Author's Name: Institutional Affiliation: Popper’s Test Karl Popper is a philosopher who designed the basic requirements used to test all scientific theories. Some of Popper’s test requirements include falsifiability, refutability, risks taking, and testability. Moreover, he maintains that repeated experiments and observations are essential facets in science to help to test the scientific aspects of a hypothesis and conjectures. This paper seeks to determine whether the Gaia theory might fail Popper’s experimental test. Gaia hypothesis proposes that an automatic state-tolerant biota controls the chemical and climatic composition of the planet's environmental surface. It further postulates that both inorganic and organic forms of the earth are intimately assimilated into a single complex system which is self-regulated to maintain the stable conditions that support life on the planet (Entrepreneurial Earth LLC, 2018). The scientific analysis of this hypothesis seeks to determine the actual effects of both living and inorganic organisms on the stability of oxygen in the atmosphere, ocean salinity, and global temperature. Gaia theory is also about the evolution of a firmly compact system, which consists of the living organisms and their surrounding environments such as the surface rocks, the oceans, and the atmosphere. According to Popper’s test, a functional scientific theory must be such that it is easy to obtain their verification or confirmation in so far as we seek for evidence (POPPER, 1963). It is, however, not easy to confirm whether the interaction between the biota and the non-living organisms leads to a stable state, which supports life on the planet as the Gaia theory claims. Secondly, Popper’s test states that scientific theories must be refutable by different conceivable means. Instead, Gaia theory states that the chemical and climatic composition of the surface environment of the earth is tightly integrated into a single complex system which is self-regulated to maintain the stable conditions which support life on the planet. This is an irrefutable concept because it is easily verifiable (POPPER, 1963). For instance, the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and cutting down of trees cause greenhouse effects, which leads to global warming. In effect, global warming causes melting of ice on maintains and poles which increases ocean currents. Besides, cutting of trees tampers with water-catchment areas, which, in effect, affects the amount of rainfall. The lack of or a reduction of moisture causes drought, which leads to health-related diseases that...
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