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Casual

Lifer
Oct 3, 2019
2,577
9,420
NL, CA
Sounds very interesting...I wasn't familiar with it so I looked it up.

I certainly agree with his view that science should be deductive rather than inductive.
I only knew Popper from epistemology. He was a positivist, and they tried to rescue science from radical scepticism by stating that you could never be sure of an empirical conclusion, but you could approach surety by trying to prove your idea wrong and failing. The more rigorous tests your idea passed, the likelier it was true. This led to the modern notion in the scientific method that one should posit a null hypothesis and then fail to prove it, thus adding weight to the experimenter’s actual hypothesis. It’s also the basis of saying that something isn’t scientific unless it’s falsifiable, because science consists of trying to falsify an idea and failing to do so. It’s a weird epistemology to me, but it’s taken over modern science wholesale.

But his politics I never read. And the term Open Society has meant everything from government transparency, as in the opposite of, say, the USSR, to some weird modern borderless non-nation, as in the Open Society Foundation. I’m guessing he is a precursor to Soros, but I don’t know until I read.
 
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olkofri

Lifer
Sep 9, 2017
8,033
14,644
The Arm of Orion
I only knew Popper from epistemology. He was a positivist, and they tried to rescue science from radical scepticism by stating that you could never be sure of an empirical conclusion, but you could approach surety by trying to prove your idea wrong and failing. The more rigorous tests your idea passed, the likelier it was true. This led to the modern notion in the scientific method that one should posit a null hypothesis and then fail to prove it, thus adding weight to the experimenter’s actual hypothesis. It’s also the basis of saying that something isn’t scientific unless it’s falsifiable, because science consists of trying to falsify an idea and failing to do so. It’s a weird epistemology to me, but it’s taken over modern science wholesale.
?

I’m guessing he is a precursor to Soros, but I don’t know until I read.
Yes, he is, he was his teacher:

I freaked out when you posted that book's cover and saw the term "open society": it just rang all the alarm bells, so I did a search for Popper (had never heard of him myself) and got my suspicions confirmed. Now, excuse me whilst I duck and cover.
 
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brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,602
14,666
It’s a weird epistemology to me, but it’s taken over modern science wholesale.

I’m guessing he is a precursor to Soros, but I don’t know until I read.
I'd be interested to learn if your perspective in either regard changes after reading. I'd never heard of him before today, but from what little I've had time to read it seems just the opposite to me...seems like his perspective on and approach to science is mostly in direct opposition to the typical manner in which much of modern, establishment science operates. And his social/political perspective appears to be in opposition to the mentality and methods of someone like Soros.

But the devil is always in the details, and there's no doubt a lot more to it than what I've gleaned at this point.
 
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judcole

Lifer
Sep 14, 2011
7,147
32,909
Detroit
Have decided to revisit the Musketeers' saga.
9780199537266.jpg
 
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Casual

Lifer
Oct 3, 2019
2,577
9,420
NL, CA
I'd be interested to learn if your perspective in either regard changes after reading. I'd never heard of him before today, but from what little I've had time to read it seems just the opposite to me...
That’s why I’m reading him. It’s hard to unravel. Every philosopher means something different when they use words like “freedom,” and you have to dig in the details to see what they mean.
 
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