Karl Popper

by Bryan Magee

Book Overview

First published in 1974. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670019674
• ISBN13: 9780670019670
• Release Date: September 1973
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 115 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Sir Karl R Popper

The late Sir Karl R Popper has been hailed by professional colleagues as the most formidable living critic of Marxism; as the greatest philosopher of science there has ever been; as a thinker whose influence is acknowledged by men of action (eg George Soros) as well as by an almost bewildering variety of scholars - and yet, he remained comparatively unknown to a wider audience. This book is a lucid, based on close study and deep understanding. It is a superb and much needed book. It is a little masterpiece of clarity. This is the perfect pocket guide to a thinker whose importance it is impossible to overestimate. Magee does an excellent job of placing Popper's view of science within the wider context of his metaphysics - especially his picture of the evolution of man as a problem solver.

Superb

I, too, have passed copies of this slim book to numerous friends. It was first handed to me by a friend who virtually locked me into a room with orders not to come out until I had read it. I did so, and have re-read it several times since, always to my advantage. Magee serves Popper well, and one effect has been to encourage me to read several of Popper's own books, also highly recommended. But most importantly, I have found several of Popper's ideas extremely valuable, notably his views on how science is "done" (that is, the value of theories being proven wrong, which has helped me in my own work in a highly technical field), and his views (in "The Open Society and its Enemies") on the need for dissent if a society is to be able to adapt and grow (which is inherent in Popper's view on science). Magee's book is a brilliant introduction to these ideas. Very highly recommended, easy to assimilate, stimulating - and not even a long read!

Outstanding treatment of an important philosopher

Sir Karl Raimund Popper led a remarkable life, although from most accounts it didn't do much to lend him a sense of humility or good grace. That's as it may be, but it doesn't detract from his tremendous, thought largely forgotten, contributions to Western thought in the last sixty years.In a country and time where academic discourse is dominated by high-flown and jargonistic theories, Popper's legacy is one that needs to be remembered (in fact, I've loaned this book to several people, and they've all told me that they hadn't realized just how influential his ideas have been). His approach is in the tradition of European liberalism-- Popper was an implacable foe of totalitarianism, mysticism, and absolutism of any sort. As the political left comes more and more to resemble the political right in terms of argumentation and language, it is genuinely refreshing to find that just a short time ago one of the most highly regarded scientist/philosophers of the modern age dedicated his life to fighting for intellectual honesty, academic rigor, and a better life for all of mankind.Bryan Magee is an engaging philosopher and writer in his own right (this as well as his other books are genuinely fun to read), and does a brilliant job of presenting an accessible and comprehensive overview of Popper's major tenets. From the Open Society to World Three to Scientific Logic, all of Popper's major contributions to the humanities are represented here, and all are eloquently explained-- with extensive use of quotes from Popper's own writings.The fact that one of the most highly-regarded 20th century philosophers is now virtually unknown-- in spite of the fact that he spent decades fighting against Nazism, fascism, and racism-- is a sad indicator of the strange turns that academic humanist thought has taken in the last couple of decades. At under 150 pages, this is a quick read. But the ideas are timeless, and contain many ideas curiously missing from much of present-day discourse-- from explaining the ways in which each of us view the world in which we live to suggesting ways in which we do our part to provide a better existence for our fellow humans.