Abstract

Although Popper rarely examined the “life of the laboratory”, some of his epistemic doctrines reveal important themes about knowledge‐acquisition in the laboratory sciences. In particular, when modern instruments are needed for exploring the subatomic realm, empirical evidence is dispositional in a Popperian sense. Evidence is defined conditionally with respect to a complex system of technological apparatus and theoretical judgments.After summarizing certain elements of Popper's epistemology, the character of observation in the laboratory sciences is explored. A conception of property as capacities is then developed. This conception of property is applicable to empirical studies using modem scientific instruments, as information‐processing systems.