Karl Popper

Sir Karl Raimund Popper, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Companions_of_Honour" title="Order of the Companions of Honour">CH</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society" title="Fellow of the Royal Society" class="mw-redirect">FRS</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-frs-0">[1]</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_of_the_British_Academy" title="Fellow of the British Academy" class="mw-redirect">FBA</a> (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austro-British<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-1">[2]</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher" title="Philosopher" class="mw-redirect">philosopher</a> and professor at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_School_of_Economics" title="London School of Economics">London School of Economics</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-2">[3]</a> He is generally regarded as one of the greatest <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_science" title="Philosophy of science">philosophers of science</a> of the 20th century;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-3">[4]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-4">[5]</a> he also wrote extensively on social and political philosophy. In 1992 he was awarded the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Prize_in_Arts_and_Philosophy" title="Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy">Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy</a> for "symbolizing the open spirit of the 20th century"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-5">[6]</a> and for his "enormous influence on the formation of the modern intellectual climate"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R._Popper#cite_note-6">[7]</a>.

Popper is known for his attempt to repudiate the classical observationalist/<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductivism" title="Inductivism">inductivist</a> form of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method" title="Scientific method">scientific method</a> in favour of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability" title="Falsifiability">empirical falsification</a>. He is also known for his opposition to the classical <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justificationism" title="Justificationism" class="mw-redirect">justificationist</a> account of knowledge which he replaced with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_rationalism" title="Critical rationalism">critical rationalism</a>, "the first non justificational philosophy of criticism in the history of philosophy".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R._Popper#cite_note-7">[8]</a> In political discourse, he is known for his vigorous defence of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_democracy" title="Liberal democracy">liberal democracy</a> and the principles of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_criticism" title="Social criticism">social criticism</a> that he came to believe made a flourishing "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_society" title="Open society">open society</a>" possible.

Karl Popper was born in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna" title="Vienna">Vienna</a> (then in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria-Hungary" title="Austria-Hungary">Austria-Hungary</a>) in 1902, to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_middle-class" title="Upper middle-class" class="mw-redirect">upper middle-class</a> parents. All of Karl Popper's grandparents were <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assimilated_Jew" title="Assimilated Jew" class="mw-redirect">Jewish</a>, but the Popper family converted to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutheranism" title="Lutheranism">Lutheranism</a> before Karl was born.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-TheFormativeYears-8">[9]</a> Karl's father Simon Siegmund Carl Popper was a lawyer from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemia" title="Bohemia">Bohemia</a>, and mother Jenny Schiff was of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesians" title="Silesians">Silesian</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_people" title="Hungarian people">Hungarian</a> descent. After establishing themselves in Vienna, the Poppers made a rapid social climb in Viennese society: Simon Siegmund Carl became a legal partner[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia:Please clarify">clarification needed</a>] of Vienna's liberal mayor Raimond Grübl and, after his death in 1898, took over the firm (Karl received his middle name from the mayor).<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-TheFormativeYears-8">[9]</a>

Popper received a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutheran" title="Lutheran" class="mw-redirect">Lutheran</a> upbringing and was educated at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Vienna" title="University of Vienna">University of Vienna</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-MageeStoryPhilosophy-9">[10]</a> His father was a doctor of law at the Vienna University and a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliophile" title="Bibliophile" class="mw-redirect">bibliophile</a> who had 12,000–14,000 volumes in his personal library.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-bibliophile-10">[11]</a> Popper inherited both the library and the disposition from him.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R._Popper#cite_note-11">[12]</a>

In 1919, Popper became attracted by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism" title="Marxism">Marxism</a> and subsequently joined the Association of Socialist School Students. He also became a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Austria" title="Social Democratic Party of Austria">Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria</a>, which was at that time a party that fully adopted the Marxist ideology.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R._Popper#cite_note-12">[13]</a> After the June 15, 1919 street battle in the Hörlgasse, when police shot eight of his unarmed party comrades, he became disillusioned by what he saw to be the pseudo-scientific <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_materialism" title="Historical materialism">historical materialism</a> of Marx, abandoned the ideology, and remained a supporter of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_liberalism" title="Social liberalism">social liberalism</a> throughout his life.

In 1928, he earned a doctorate in psychology, under the supervision of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_B%C3%BChler" title="Karl Bühler">Karl Bühler</a>. His dissertation was entitled "Die Methodenfrage der Denkpsychologie" (The question of method in cognitive psychology).<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-13">[14]</a> Then, from 1930 to 1936, he taught secondary school. Popper published his first book, Logik der Forschung (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Logic_of_Scientific_Discovery" title="The Logic of Scientific Discovery">The Logic of Scientific Discovery</a>), in 1934. Here, he criticised <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychologism" title="Psychologism">psychologism</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalism%28philosophy%29" title="Naturalism (philosophy)">naturalism</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductionism" title="Inductionism">inductionism</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_positivism" title="Logical positivism">logical positivism</a>, and put forth his theory of potential <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability" title="Falsifiability">falsifiability</a> as the criterion demarcating science from non-science.

In 1937, the rise of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism" title="Nazism">Nazism</a> and the threat of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss" title="Anschluss">Anschluss</a> led Popper to emigrate to New Zealand, where he became lecturer in philosophy at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Canterbury" title="University of Canterbury">Canterbury University College</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Zealand" title="University of New Zealand">New Zealand</a> (at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch" title="Christchurch">Christchurch</a>). It was here that he wrote his influential work <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Society_and_its_Enemies" title="The Open Society and its Enemies" class="mw-redirect">The Open Society and its Enemies</a>. In 1946, he moved to England to become <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reader%28academic_rank%29" title="Reader (academic rank)">reader</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic" title="Logic">logic</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method" title="Scientific method">scientific method</a> at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_School_of_Economics" title="London School of Economics">London School of Economics</a>. Three years later, he was appointed as professor of logic and scientific method at the University of London in 1949. Popper was president of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotelian_Society" title="Aristotelian Society">Aristotelian Society</a> from 1958 to 1959. He was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_honours_system" title="British honours system" class="mw-redirect">knighted</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II_of_the_United_Kingdom" title="Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom" class="mw-redirect">Queen Elizabeth II</a> in 1965, and was elected a Fellow of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society" title="Royal Society">Royal Society</a> in 1976.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-frs-0">[1]</a> He retired from academic life in 1969, though he remained intellectually active for the rest of his life. He was invested with the Insignia of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Companions_of_Honour" title="Order of the Companions of Honour">Companion of Honour</a> in 1982. Popper was a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_Humanism" title="Academy of Humanism" class="mw-redirect">Academy of Humanism</a> and described himself as an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism" title="Agnosticism">agnostic</a>, showing respect for the moral teachings of Judaism and Christianity.

Popper won many awards and honours in his field, including the Lippincott Award of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Political_Science_Association" title="American Political Science Association">American Political Science Association</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonning_Prize" title="Sonning Prize">Sonning Prize</a>, and fellowships in the Royal Society,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-frs-0">[1]</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Academy" title="British Academy">British Academy</a>, London School of Economics, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_College_London" title="King's College London">King's College London</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_College,Cambridge" title="Darwin College, Cambridge">Darwin College</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Cambridge" title="University of Cambridge">Cambridge</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_University_in_Prague" title="Charles University in Prague">Charles University, Prague</a>. Austria awarded him the Grand <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoration_for_Services_to_the_Republic_of_Austria" title="Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria" class="mw-redirect">Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria</a> in Gold.

Popper died in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croydon" title="Croydon">Croydon</a>, UK at the age of 92 on 17 September 1994. After cremation, his ashes were taken to Vienna and buried at Lainzer cemetery adjacent to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORF%28broadcaster%29" title="ORF (broadcaster)">ORF</a> Centre, where his wife Josefine Anna Henninger, who had died in Austria several years before, had already been buried.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_R.Popper#cite_note-14">[15]</a>

Karl Popper

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