Karl Popper (born July 28, 1902 - died September 17, 1994)

Birth of Karl Popper

1902

Karl Popper was born in Austria on July 28th, 1902

Political Riot

1919

Karl Popper was a follower of Marxism during his early life however a riot in 1919 caused by the communists involving the shooting of unarmed civilians led Popper to begin to reject the ideas proposed by Marxism and led to his later critiques of historicism.

Logik der Forschung

1935

This writing was one of Popper's first major influences on the philosophy of science. Published first in German and later in English, he proposed the ideas of falsification, that real scientific discoveries hold weight not because they have been proved true, but because they can in theory be proven false.
The video attached provides a thorough and understandable explanation of falsification and other ideas proposed by Popper as told by Crash Course. https://youtu.be/-X8Xfl0JdTQ.

The Open Societies and Its Enemies

1945

This work was one more social and political in nature, where Popper defended liberal democracy and attacked totalitarianism. As someone previously involved with Marxism and Socialism, Popper was uniquely poised to provide his critiques in the political atmosphere and its influences on science and revolutions.

The Poverty of Historicism

1957

Published as a paper in 1936 and later as a book in 1957, this work offered, "a highly critical analysis of the methodology of the social sciences, in particular, of attempts by social scientists to formulate predictive, explanatory laws" (Shea).
Popper notes, “In memory of the countless men and women of all creeds or nations or races who fell victim to the fascist and communist belief in Inexorable Laws of Historical Destiny” and argues that we cannot view the future using the past (Popper).

The Logic of Scientific Discovery

1959

Previously known under the name "Logik der Forschung" this work was translated to and subsequently published in English in 1959.

Conjectures and Refutations

1963

This work was particularly noted for the way it showed us how scientific knowledge grows and how that information can be used in application with politics and history. This application allowed this work to become a sensation and have wide spread use.

Death of Karl Popper

1994

Karl Popper died on September 17, 1994.