RESTING ON A "FIRM ENOUGH" SWAMP

Karl R. Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery (New York: Basic Books, 1959) ("Thee empirical basis of objective science has thus nothing 'absolute' about it. Science does not rest upon rock-bottom. The bold structure of its theories rises, as it were, above a swamp. It is like a building erected on piles. The piles are driven down from above into the swamp, but not down to any natural or 'given' base; and when we cease our attempts to drive our piles into a deeper layer, it is not because we have reached firm ground. We simply stop when we are satisfied that they are firm enough to carry the structure, at least for the time being." Id. at 111.).