Brussels, December 11, 2005
There are a few people only who have been as fruitful in their contribution to understanding the society as Karl Popper or René Girard (I'll talk about Girard one of these days).
Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy tells us that karl Popper is generally regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of science of the 20th century. He was also a social and political philosopher of considerable stature, a self-professed ‘critical-rationalist’, a dedicated opponent of all forms of scepticism, conventionalism, and relativism in science and in human affairs generally, a committed advocate and staunch defender of the ‘Open Society’, and an implacable critic of totalitarianism in all of its forms. One of the many remarkable features of Popper's thought is the scope of his intellectual influence...."
See also The Karl Popper Web
A major contribution of Popper has been the concept of falsifiability. A scientific statement, he said, is one that can be proved wrong. By Popper's rules, a law of science can never be proved.
The same notion applied to Political Sciences would mean the end of ideology in favour of a never ending questionning of ideas, facts and doctrines.
While trying to understand the main issues of the 21st century, reading Popper can give us excellent leads in linking the past of fascism and communism with the present resurgence of religious fundamentalism and nationalism.
Karl Popper has been a teacher of Georges Soros, thus the name of Soros fundation, The Open Society Institute (OSI), a "private operating and grantmaking foundation, aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform".
But hey, did Popper like the Rolling Stones?
Silly question?
Not really, there's a link....... Who will find out?
Answers welcome in the comment form.....
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