Karl Popper
Karl Popper
Sir Karl Raimund Popper CH FBA FRSwas an Austrian-British philosopher and professor. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of science of the 20th century...
NationalityAustrian
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth28 July 1902
CountryAustria
hate ideas may
We hate the very idea that our own ideas may be mistaken, so we cling dogmatically to our conjectures.
freedom government democracy
I personally call the type of government which can be removed without violence 'democracy,' and the other, 'tyranny.'.
plato political program
Plato felt that a complete reconstruction of society's political program was needed.
hayek i-have-learned thinker
I have learned more from Hayek than from any other living thinker, except perhaps Alfred Tarski - but not even excepting Russell.
mean winning games
Bold ideas, unjustified anticipations, and speculative thought, are our only means for interpreting nature: our only organon, our only instrument, for grasping her. And we must hazard them to win our prize. Those among us who are unwilling to expose their ideas to the hazard of refutation do not take part in the scientific game.
white swans may
no matter how many instances of white swans we may have observed, this does not justify the conclusion that all swans are white.
names tolerance should
We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.
science theory falsity
All we can do is search for the falsity content in our best theory.
math talking mathematical-logic
We never know what we are talking about.
free-opinion challenges intellectual
The true Enlightenment thinker, the true rationalist, never wants to talk anyone into anything. No, he does not even want to convince; all the time he is aware that he may be wrong. Above all, he values the intellectual independence of others too highly to want to convince them in important matters. He would much rather invite contradiction, preferably in the form of rational and disciplined criticism. He seeks not to convince but to arouse - to challenge others to form free opinions.
ignorance knowledge learning
Our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite.
inspirational letting-go book
No book can ever be finished. While working on it we learn just enough to find it immature the moment we turn away from it
thinking people events
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... A theory which is not refutable by any conceivable event is non-scientific. Irrefutability is not a virtue of a theory (as people often think) but a vice. Every genuine test of a theory is an attempt to falsify it, or refute it.
science practice criticism
Thus science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths; neither with the collection of observations, nor with the invention of experiments, but with the critical discussion of myths, and of magical techniques and practices.