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Birth
Karl Raimund Popper was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary -
Joined Association of Socialist School Students
At the age of 16, 1918, Popper dropped out of school. Instead, he began attending lectures at the University of Vienna including mathematics, physics, philosophy, psychology, and the history of music. In 1919, he joined the Association of Socialist School Students and also became a member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria. After a street battle in 1919, he turned from Karl Marx's historical materialism and remained a supporter of social liberalism (insert). -
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Earned Doctorate in Psychology
In 1928, Popper earned his doctorate in psychology. His dissertation was titled "On Questions of Method in the Philosophy of Thinking." Fearing the rise of Nazism, he wrote a book titled "The Two Fundamental Problems on the Theory of Knowledge," and got it published in order to achieve an academic position in a country where people of Jewish decent were safe. He ended up not publishing it, but wrote a condensed version titled "The Logic of Scientific Discovery," in 1934. -
Wrote "The Logic of Scientific Discovery"
In 1934, Popper wrote a book called "The Logic of Scientific Discovery." Here, he criticized psychologism, naturalism, inductivism, and logic positivism. In this, he put forth his theory of potential falsifiability as the criterion demarcating science from non-science. -
The Falsification Principle
In his book, "The Logic of Scientific Discovery,", he replaced the classical observationalist-inductivist account of the scientific method with falsification as the criterion for distinguishing science from non-science. Popper argues that science would best progress using deductive reasoning as its primary emphasis, known as critical rationalism. Induction cannot yield certainty. Popper says the scientist should try to disprove their theory rather than attempt to continually prove it (Mcleod). -
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Moved to New Zealand
In 1937, Popper moved to New Zealand where he became a lecturer in philosophy at Canterbury University College and the University of New Zealand. He wrote "The Open Society and Its Enemies." -
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Moved to the United Kingdom
After World War II, Popper moved to the United Kingdom where he became a reader in logic and scientific method at the London School of Economics. In 1949, he was appointed professor of logic and scientific method at the University of London. Popper was the president of the Aristotelian Society from 1958 to 1959. -
Popper's Contribution
Popper says that there are often legitimate purposes for posting non-scientific theories, and he argues that theories which start out as non-scientific can later become scientific, as we determine methods for generating and testing specific predictions based on these theories. Falsification provides a methodological distinction based on the unique role that observation and evidence play in scientific practice (Shea). -
Death
Popper died of "complications of cancer, pneumonia, and kidney failure," in Kenley at the age of 92. -
Citations
“Karl Popper.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Jan. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Popper. -
Citations Pt. 2
Mcleod, Saul. “Karl Popper - Theory of Falsification.” Karl Popper - Theory of Falsification - Simply Psychology, 1 May 2020, https://www.simplypsychology.org/Karl-Popper.html#:~:text=Popper%20is%20known%20for%20his,demarcating%20science%20from%20non%2Dscience Shea, Brendan. “Philosophy of Science.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://iep.utm.edu/pop-sci/#:~:text=Popper%20allows%20that%20there%20are,predictions%20based%20on%20these%20theories.