How to Compose a Successful Critical Commentary

How to compose a successful critical commentary: 1. Attempt to re-express your target's position so clearly, vividly and fairly that your target says: "Thanks, I wish I'd thought of putting it that way." 2. List any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement). 3. Mention anything you have learned from your target. 4. Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism.

 Karl Popper's Conclusions About Good Theories

It is easy to obtain confirmations, or verifications, for nearly every theory — if we look for confirmations.     Confirmations should count only if they are the result of risky predictions; that is to say, if, unenlightened by the theory in question, we should have expected an event which was incompatible with the theory — an event which would have refuted the theory.     Every "good" scientific theory is a prohibition: it forbids certain things to happen. The more a theory forb...