Karl Popper
Austrian-British philosopher of science (1902 to 1994), professor at the London School of Economics; author of The Logic of Scientific Discovery and The Open Society and Its Enemies.
From the book Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge17 korrents
Cited by Philip TetlockSee it on the map
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Their wordsThere are no ultimate sources of knowledge. Every source, every suggestion, is welcome; and every source, every suggestion, is open to critical examination.
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Our reading
The more we learn about the world, the clearer our knowledge of our own ignorance becomes
Their wordsThe more we learn about the world, and the deeper our learning, the more conscious, specific, and articulate will be our knowledge of what we do not know, our knowledge of our ignorance.
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsIt is easy to obtain confirmations, or verifications, for nearly every theory - if we look for confirmations.
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsConfirmations should count only if they are the result of risky predictions
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsThe more a theory forbids, the better it is.
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsIrrefutability is not a virtue of a theory (as people often think) but a vice.
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsEvery genuine test of a theory is an attempt to falsify it, or to refute it. Testability is falsifiability
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Our reading
Their wordsObservation is always selective.
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsThe critical attitude, the tradition of free discussion of theories with the aim of discovering their weak spots so that they may be improved upon, is the attitude of reasonableness, of rationality.
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Our reading
False theories often serve well enough: formulae known to be false can be excellent approximations
Their wordsfalse theories often serve well enough: most formulae used in engineering or navigation are known to be false, although they may be excellent approximations and easy to handle
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsAnd public opinion is a thing which all can influence, and especially philosophers.
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsAll that is needed is a readiness to learn from one's partner in the discussion
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsThere is no scientific way of choosing between two ends.
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsWork for the elimination of concrete evils rather than for the realization of abstract goods.
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsDo not aim at establishing happiness by political means.
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsThe Utopianist attitude, therefore, is opposed to the attitude of reasonableness.
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book
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Their wordsWhat I believe we can do instead is to make life a little less terrible and a little less unjust in each generation.
↗Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (Routledge Classics, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 17 from this book