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Popper, Sir Karl (1902-1994)
Copyright: IMAGNO/Ullstein
Karl Popper was born on 28 July 1902 in Vienna. After school Popper received training as cabinet maker before enrolling at the Vienna University where, in 1928, he received PhD in philosophy with his doctoral thesis “Zur Methodenfrage der Denkpsychologie”.
From 1930 to 1936 Popper taught mathematic and physics at a secondary school while writing his "Grundprobleme der Erkenntnistheorie". Although not a member of the Vienna School of Philosophy, Popper was accepting their scientific attitude, but criticized some of their beliefs. Popper's most significant contribution to the philosophy of science, his “Logik der Forschung” (1934; The Logic of Scientific Discovery, tr. 1959), was published in the group’s magazine; in it he criticized the prevailing view that science is fundamentally inductive in nature, meaning that, no matter how often something is confirmed, it cannot be confirmed beyond any possible doubt or reputation.
Popper’s most famous work is "Die offene Gesellschaft und ihre Feinde" (1945, The Open Society and Its Enemies), in which he defended democracy and advanced objections to the totalitarian implications of the political theories of Plato and Karl Marx. He criticized the view that discoverable laws of the development of history render its future course inevitable and thus predictable.
In 1937 Popper took up a position teaching philosophy at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, where he was to remain for the duration of the Second World War.
In 1946 he moved to England to teach at the London School of Economics, and became professor of logic and scientific method at the University of London in 1949. From this point on Popper's standing and reputation as a philosopher of science and social thinker grew enormously, and he continued to write industriously - a number of his works, particularly The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959), are now universally recognized as classics in the field.
In West Germany, students began to pay attention to Popper only after his confrontation with Theodor Adorno in Tubingen in 1961, in which he revived the so-called "Positivismusstreit" in German sociology.
He was knighted in 1965, and retired from the University of London in 1969, though he remained active as a writer, broadcaster and lecturer until his death on 17 September 1994 in London.
Karl Popper Institute
From 1930 to 1936 Popper taught mathematic and physics at a secondary school while writing his "Grundprobleme der Erkenntnistheorie". Although not a member of the Vienna School of Philosophy, Popper was accepting their scientific attitude, but criticized some of their beliefs. Popper's most significant contribution to the philosophy of science, his “Logik der Forschung” (1934; The Logic of Scientific Discovery, tr. 1959), was published in the group’s magazine; in it he criticized the prevailing view that science is fundamentally inductive in nature, meaning that, no matter how often something is confirmed, it cannot be confirmed beyond any possible doubt or reputation.
Popper’s most famous work is "Die offene Gesellschaft und ihre Feinde" (1945, The Open Society and Its Enemies), in which he defended democracy and advanced objections to the totalitarian implications of the political theories of Plato and Karl Marx. He criticized the view that discoverable laws of the development of history render its future course inevitable and thus predictable.
In 1937 Popper took up a position teaching philosophy at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, where he was to remain for the duration of the Second World War.
In 1946 he moved to England to teach at the London School of Economics, and became professor of logic and scientific method at the University of London in 1949. From this point on Popper's standing and reputation as a philosopher of science and social thinker grew enormously, and he continued to write industriously - a number of his works, particularly The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959), are now universally recognized as classics in the field.
In West Germany, students began to pay attention to Popper only after his confrontation with Theodor Adorno in Tubingen in 1961, in which he revived the so-called "Positivismusstreit" in German sociology.
He was knighted in 1965, and retired from the University of London in 1969, though he remained active as a writer, broadcaster and lecturer until his death on 17 September 1994 in London.
Karl Popper Institute
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