Karl Popper

By Alex_Lauher

  • Birth

    Karl Popper was born in Vienna on 28 July 1902. Karl Popper was highly influential in the philosophy of science, and his ideas would change how many scientists approach the topic. Introducing the idea of falsifiability and refutation would help further define scientific theories as either science or pseudo-science. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf-sGqBsWv4&t=23s

  • Logik der Forschung (The Logic of Scientific Discovery)

    Karl Popper's first published book that would be later translated from German To English in 1959. Popper detailed the problem of induction, the importance of falsification and scientific methodology, and the criterion of demarcation.
    Popper, Karl. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. 1935. Routledge, 2005, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203994627.

  • The Poverty of Historicism

    Karl Popper wrote this paper that would later be published as a book in 1957. Popper provides criticism to historicism which is when historical observations are used to determine future social and cultural phenomena. One key point is that to describe a whole of society would be impossible as the characteristics of that society would be infinite and if we cannot describe the present state, we cannot hope to describe the future.
    Popper, Karl. Poverty of Historicism. 1936. Routledge, 2015.

  • Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge

    Popper goes into further detail about the importance of falsifiability in scientific theories. Popper writes "Every 'good' scientific theory is a prohibition: it forbids certain things to happen. The more a theory forbids, the better it is." (Popper)
    Popper, Karl R. Conjectures and Refutations : The Growth of Scientific Knowledge. Routledge, 1963.

  • Epistemology Without a Knowing Subject

    Karl Popper details his view on epistemology in this chapter of the book Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science III. Popper explains the third world and the world of objective contents of thought.
    Popper, Karl. “Epistemology without a Knowing Subject.” Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science III, edited by Van Rootselaar and J. F. Staal, vol. 52, Elsevier BV, 1968, pp. 333–73, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0049-237x(08)71204-7. Accessed 3 May 2023.

  • Death

    Karl Popper dies due to complications with cancer, pneumonia, and kidney failure in Kenley, United Kingdom.