The Odyssey of Science: The Case of

What does the Immanuel kant´s paradox mean for science? Why is the difference between analytic and synthetic sentences-propositions a central puzzle in science, epistemology, analytical philosophy

society and its enemies.Is his theory of liberalism based on the logic of falsification and demarcation?How consistent was Popper with his own political theory?
In his turn, Adolfo Figueroa was a Peruvian economist.His research begins with the problem of economic inequality in Peru.Together with the economist Richard Webb published Income distribution in Peru which had important effects on the modern economic investigation on this Andean country.This book arises in the middle of the horizon of the discussion of the history of Peru and the conflicts of the 1970s -the oligarchy, the land problem, the peasant, the guerrillas, the first great migrations, and the colonial heritage.In this context, agrarian reform arose, a plan executed by the military government in the 1970s in order to solve one of the central problems: the distribution of land.And what was the effect of this reform?For Figueroa, the results show minimal impacts, for example it only benefited 15% of the population and, even more, this population was not the poorest in the countryside.He also carried out an economic study in eight communities in the southern highlands of Peru, and developed his theory of the peasant economy.From here on, income distribution became the gravity force of Figueroa's research.
Considering these two different intellectual paths, how can we understand the Popper and Figueroa connection?How should we explain this research process of Figueroa?How do we make sense of his theory of the peasant economy and the unification of capitalist theory?Would the epic Homer´s Odyssey be a metaphor to explain this scenario?What was the maturation route?What were the philosophical factors behind this trajectory?This process is not studied yet at its fullest.And it would be important to analyze this case because it would shed light on the functioning of scientific research, not only in its methodological component, but also in its cognitive evolution regarding the role of the question and the problem.How do we connect the studies of income distribution and Popper's theory of falsification?From a philosophical point of view, I will draw just a few lines to, somehow, come closer to understanding the research process, the voyage, and the Homeric odyssey of Figueroa´s frameworks.
What was the significance of Popper on the development of Figueroa's economic theory?This question is central to understanding Figueroa's productive period in the field of research on the capitalist economy, especially in his latest works.Various analysts approach Popper's influence on Figueroa somewhat hastily.Figueroa's scientific method -including debates between Carnap and Popper-is believed to be linear or perhaps a matter of form only, which ignores the significant problems that Popper engendered in the construction of Figueroa's frameworks, especially those on Growth, employment, inequality, and environment.Unity of knowledge in economics; Economics of the Anthropocene age; and The quality of society.Essays on the unified theory of capitalism.Others maintain that Figueroa would deceive us, would make us believe that something is central when it is in fact only a "cover up" or "sugar coating."For example, they maintain that Figueroa employs Popper as a tool to criticize classical, neoclassical, and Keynesian theories.If this hypothesis is true, then we would be entering a complex scenario where Figueroa's theory would have several schemes and stratagems within it, and even more we would be facing a political program covered by a scientific mask.
If this were the case, the best method of analysis would be to use Ludwig Wittgenstein's theory of language games to discover Figueroa's pseudo-Popperian position.This situation would bring complicated consequences for this scientist.I, personally, do not share these positions.The task, consequently, is to analyze the implicit architecture, the philosophical factors, of the quantitative argument that appears in Figueroa's publications.This is a project for the future, but here I will present the first sketch of the history of this architecture of his publications, especially the most recent ones.Herein lies the contribution of this economist: not in his solutions but in the questions and problems he has posited not only for economics but also for science and philosophy.These first lines of the history of architecture address the significant conflicts and theoretical questions that Popper provoked in Figueroa's thought and productions.It was neither an easy process nor a harmonious intellectual friendship.Consequently, and after a long process of reflection, the author of the sigma society developed his own economic theory employing six methods: quantitative methods, physics, biology, economics, sociology, history, and epistemology and philosophy of science.How was a theory developing through synthesizing these methods?To Figueroa faced a dilemma: the concept of rigor and science.Despite using quantitative methodology, how do we know that the theoretical process is rigorous and scientific?How can we answer this question?Here entered a line of knowledge that was unfamiliar to him: epistemology and philosophy of science.Two of its main contributions included Susan Haack's philosophy of logic and Bertrand Russell's works regarding the principles of philosophy and mathematics.These initial readings led Figueroa to the Saul Kripke´s theory of logic and the concept of "necessity", to the Cartesian problem of the cogito and the mathesis universalis, and to the whole derivative problems of axioms, principles, sentences, foundations, and the system of propositions.As a result,  Personally, I maintain that the big questions of today -the most pressing challenges in epistemology and philosophy of science -do not originate in philosophy but in physical science, especially in quantum physics.For example, Figueroa reflected on these debates and scientific investigations in the works of Albert Einstein, especially in his system of propositions that belong to his work on the theory of gravitation; Steven Weinberg in his unlearning thesis; Ludwig Boltzmann with his question "why do we observe irreversibility?";Erwin Schrödinger and the equation of "anomalous behavior"; Werner Heisenberg in his concept of "modelling and experience"; Anton Zeilinger in "mathematics and the universe itself"; Ilya Prigogine with the thesis "reality is many possibilities"; and Richard Feynman with his concepts of "equivalent theories", and "logical proof".Figueroa was surprised and intrigued by these discussions that impact science so directly and that are articulated, for example, by Hillary Putnam, W. Quine, Rudolph Carnap, and Karl Popper.To what extent was it useful for his research on income distribution and the nature of sigma society?Why did he not consider Quine's theory of dogma important, for example?Why did he not consider Wittgenstein's theory of representation and the Tractatus framework?Why Popper and his theory of science as "refutability"?What was the problem of classical, neoclassical, Keynesian, and Marxist theories in economics research?The truth is that Popper transported Figueroa to a deep and complex universe.He introduced him to the world of science-but to a science that Figueroa did not know, despite having studied formal methods, mathematics, calculus, metrics, statistics and econometrics in his Ph.D. years in economics in the United States.Anecdotally, Figueroa would always ask in meetings with foreign colleagues: "Why did I concordance between theory and evidence.This methodology is typical of myths-and myths are important in society, but they are not scientific.
Figueroa incorporated this enormous concept of falsification or refutation and demarcation into his works.It was not only useful to his methodology, but also allowed him to discover the problem of science and economic science in another way.Nevertheless, Figueroa noted that "refutability" is not commonly used in scientific research or in the scientific community, and that Thomas Kuhn's scientific revolutions theory would perhaps guide researchers-for example, concepts of consensus, structure, and paradigm anomalies.Figueroa observed that the candidate to become the "scientific" theory is generally defended, supported, and reinterpreted even when it is false, even when it is rejected by the evidence.This economist proposed an important question: Why do science and scientists behave like this?Is Popper's demarcation theory a marginal topic?And he asked another question: does the use of Popper imply social prerequisites?This question is closely linked to his theory of income distribution, sigma society and the issue of social, economic, and historical preconditions.These questions marked the complicated routes in its development and theoretical evolution.These doubts do not have an easy answer because Popper also did not consider them.
"Refutability" led him to other observations.When he taught the epistemology and philosophy of science course at the undergraduate and graduate levels, he realized that science was lacking in the minds of economics students.The

Figueroa,
Figueroa, the central task entailed creating a new economic theory: The unified theory of capitalism.

Figueroa
Figueroa reinterpreted the fundamentals of science in general and the science of economics in particular.And he then analyzed -with different perspective-the works of the renowned mathematician and economist Georgescu Roegen, professor in his Ph.D. program and one of the most important authors in his economic thought, especially in the use of the concepts of bioeconomics and the laws of physics.

Figueroa
Figueroa dedicated several years to studying the philosophy of science.As a consequence, he discovers fundamental problems of knowledge in general and of science and economics in particular.He finds great debates among the most important theoretical physicists on reality, beings, space-time, existence, metaphysics, objectivity, relativism, rationalism, realism, theory, evidence, David Hume, Inmanuel Kant, W.Quine, Rudolph Carnap, and Karl Popper.This new horizon was nothing other than the complex problems of epistemology that resulted from research in cosmological physics and quantum physics.
Figueroa uses the Popperian concept of "refutability" in his work.What does this concept mean?