Question
While chair of the University of Hawai’i’s philosophy department, this man demanded that indigenous professor Haunani-Kay Trask resign after she wrote that white people should leave the state. For 10 points each:
[10h] Name this philosopher who claimed that since past scientific theories have been found to be false, there is no reason to believe our current theories are approximately true, in the pessimistic meta-induction argument.
ANSWER: Larry Laudan
[10e] Laudan argued that the goal of science is to develop theories that solve conceptual problems in a book refuting logical positivism, a view developed by this movement named for a European capital.
ANSWER: Vienna Circle [or Wiener Kreis]
[10m] Laudan borrowed this thinker’s concept of the “research program,” claiming that “research traditions” are rational if they make conceptual progress over time. This author of Proofs and Refutations supported rationalism against Paul Feyerabend’s anarchism.
ANSWER: Imre Lakatos [or Lakatos Imre]
<FW, Philosophy (19th/20th Century)>
Data
Summary
| Tournament | Edition | Exact Match? | Heard | PPB | Easy % | Medium % | Hard % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 RMP Fest Online Mirror | 05/31/25 | Y | 5 | 20.00 | 100% | 80% | 20% |
| 2025 RMP Fest Carleton Mirror | 07/13/25 | N | 3 | 13.33 | 100% | 33% | 0% |
| 2025 RMP Fest CO Mirror | 08/10/25 | N | 6 | 20.00 | 100% | 83% | 17% |