Karl Raimund Popper, born in Vienna, Austria, in 1902 and died in London in 1994, witnessed virtually the entire twentieth century and was also one of his greatest critics, a philosopher by profession and a teacher of vocation, has always been regarded as one of the brightest contemporary minds; Karl Popper’s phrases are a good proof of that.
Popper was called the father of critical rationalism. He has dedicated his life to challenging modern rationalism. With great success, his contemporaries gave him a nickname that is still remembered today: “The Champion of Common Sense”. And he honored that nickname.
- He spoke out against the scientific method.
- Marxism.
- Semitism.
- Metaphysics and everything that shaped the sphere of thought in the twentieth century.
- Stead than in his native country.
- He was exalted in England.
- Where he received the title of lord.
- A selection of Karl Popper’s best phrases so you know some of his thinking.
Popper says: “He who promises us paradise on Earth has never produced anything but hell. “It is a scathing critique of idealism, in its quest for total perfection or total achievement.
In collective life, the search for perfect realities leads to more radical manifestations such as fascism; In individual life, desire for ideal only leads to frustration, so Popper would be right to say that paradise and hell are two sides of the same thing. Currency.
Sometimes we think of the world, reality and ourselves as if everything was static and hadn’t changed, even inanimate objects constantly change. Thus, one of Karl Popper’s phrases reads: “The world is not composed of things, but of processes. “
With this statement, it reminds us that nothing is equal from one second to another, everything changes all the time. Therefore, reality as such is incomprehensible and we can only capture moments or parts of it.
For this Viennese philosopher, the main quality of reason is its openness. Based on this premise, she does not hesitate to say: “The reason is not all-powerful, it is tenacious, stubborn, prudent, critical, relentless, willing to listen and argue, risky worker. “
In this sentence, he emphasizes the uncertainty and mobility that accompany reason and will implicitly be thrown against the absolutism of reason. It also emphasizes the edges of exploration and research into what exists in this function of thought.
Faced with equality, a theme that was at the center of modern thought from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, Popper notes: “Equality before the law is not a fact, but a political demand based on a moral decision. And this is totally independent”. from the theory?probably wrong?that all men are born equal?
This is one of Karl Popper’s phrases in which he emphasizes equality as a political and moral value, not as a natural reality, but also grants the status of application and decision, which places equality as a result of culture and personal evolution. postulates inequality as a natural condition of man.
Freedom and security are two concepts that are always in tension in the exercise of power, many debates concern the dichotomy between the two, the paradox is that total freedom puts stability at risk, while total security reduces freedom. Will it be seen when we face certain threats in societies where the “curfew”?It’s installed.
Karl Popper stresses: “We must make plans for freedom, not just for security, for the sole reason that only freedom can guarantee security. “On this, the debate for freedom is dying out. Only in the space of freedom can real security be achieved.
The openness of society is directly related to free thinking and moral autonomy. These are Popper’s words about it: “An open society is a society in which men have learned to criticize taboos a little and to base their decisions on the authority of their own intelligence. “. “
It is interesting to note that Popper does not reject taboos in the absolute sense, so he claims to learn to criticize them “to some extent”. On the other hand, he emphasized the idea that human decisions should obey their own intelligence and not an external authority.
It is a wonderful reflection of Popper that emphasizes what differentiates science from other types of knowledge: “The history of science, like that of all human ideas, is a story of irresponsible dreams, obstacles and mistakes; however, science is one of the few human activities?perhaps the only one in which mistakes are systematically corrected and often over time ?.
The approach is very interesting when you consider that human history is full of streams of thought that were supposed to carry absolute truth. Both religions, as well as certain political ideologies, have often proven error-free. Science is superior, to them precisely because it is essential, above all, to himself.
We hope you enjoyed these phrases by Karl Popper, who had one of the greatest virtues that a thinker could count on: he was intellectually honest, he showed a real willingness to postulate reasoning and ideas that would allow a precise approach to reality. it has been remarkable and has left an indelible mark on the history of philosophy.