Karl Popper

By tyneshiafayall

  • The Beginning

    Sir Karl Raimund Popper, or Karl Popper was born on July 28, 1902 in Vienna, Austria. He was a philosopher of natural and social science who believed that knowledge evolves from experiences of the mind. Growing up, his father was a lawyer, but also took interest in philosophy. His ended up being one of his biggest influences in further educating himself in the aspect of philosophy as a whole.

  • Education

    In 1924, he completed his training as an elementary teacher at the University of Vienna after attending lectures for many years. In 1925, he wanted to further his education in philosophy and psychology and joined the Pädagogisches Institut and earned a doctorate in psychology in 1928. He would then go on to develop his own theories and conceptions to contribute to unlocking the secrets within the scientific realm.

  • Major Works

    Karl Popper’s book, The Poverty of Historicism, published in 1957, is considered one of his major works. It originated as a paper written in 1936 but was later revised and published in a book. It was a commentary on the scientific method in the social sciences. The Logic of Scientific Discovery, published in 1959 discussed his thoughts of scientific methodology and of the importance of falsification. These were just a couple of his works, but they remain some of the most influential.

  • Falsification

    Karl Popper established this theory when trying to distinguish the difference between science and non-science. He suggested that science was based on observations and experiments and non-science based on things like logic and psychoanalysis. In other words, science can be proven false because it is evidence based. Non-science lacks evidence and observation and cannot be falsified therefore making it unreliable information.

  • Sources

    “Take Online Courses. Earn College Credit. Research Schools, Degrees & Careers.” Study.com | Take Online Courses. Earn College Credit. Research Schools, Degrees & Careers, https://study.com/learn/lesson/karl-popper-life-theory-falsification.html. “Karl Popper: Philosophy of Science.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://iep.utm.edu/pop-sci/#H6. “Karl Popper.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, https://plato.stanford.edu/Archives/spr2004/entries/popper/.

  • Video Link

    This video is nearly 10 minutes long and is very educational. I've learned quite a lot while watching this video. I highly recommend watching this from start to finish. (Chapter 1.4: Karl Popper and the logic of falsification) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlFywEtLZ9w