The Vienna Circle

The Vienna circle was a group of philosophers who would gather around the University of Vienna in 1922. They were an association of anti-metaphysical philosophers who stated that philosophy ought not to be used to find answers but rather to clarify statements that are non-philosophical.They argued that knowledge could only come through experience and that propositions that cannot be verified are meaningless. This notion is known as the verificiation principle.

Therefore, general laws of science come under threat under this principle, as they are incapable of if conclusive verification. For example, it is generally accepted that the sun will rise tomorrow, but we cannot be sure of it as it cannot be verified. The Vienna Circle would therefore argue against the existence of posteriori truths.

Karl Popper however (who was also a member of the circle) went onto state that the verification principle itself cannot be verified so therefore it cannot be accepted as a truth.Popper was born in Austria, and although he travelled to various places during the course of his life, his most famous work was done in Vienna.

He was inspired by Einstein who took prior knowledge set by Newton and managed to disprove it. It is no surprise then that Popper argued that science ought not to prove propositions but rather disprove them. This is because we have no way of knowing if something is or will remain true (or in fact the truth actually exists), but we can always disprove something. He included this idea in his "Logic of Scientific Discovery", in which he attempted to counter the ideas set by empiricists and logical positivists.

Similarly, in his other works he opposed ideas found in Plato's Republic, and said that men who are considered experts in their fields are in fact not because the truth about any matter cannot be known. They therefore should not be granted any powers or be placed as figures of authorities. Governments soul in fact attempt to minimise suffering. This links in with his thoughts on the Paradox of Democracy. Hitler's rise to power is used as a prime example in this theory, in which he states that democracy can bring about the end of democracy through the voting system, and there is no way of getting out of it.

Although he was surrounded by the Vienna Circle, he was never considered a logical positivist, this is mainly down to his thoughts on falsification, and his "problem of induction", in which he once again states that all theories are just that, and science should be used accurately to falsify them.
This is increasingly important in journalism as we are constantly presented with ideas that are "truths" but we should not take them at face value , and instead take them with a pinch of salt and recognise that matters can be falsified but not necessarily verified.