Everything I know about the philosopher Karl Popper I have learnt from a tiny book consisting of just 110 small pages. Yet that tiny book is a treasure trove of wisdom. The knowledge conveyed within its pages I would argue is indispensable to the scientist, politician and philosopher alike.
Without boring you too much with the details, Popper was born in Vienna in 1902. He was a great philosopher, not only of the natural sciences but also of social science and politics. The tiny book I spoke of is a short summary of Popper's work which was written in 1973 by Bryan Magee and simply entitled, Popper. If you can obtain a copy it's a highly recommended read!
The Nobel Prize winner, Sir John Eccles advised scientists to "read and meditate on Popper's writings on the philosophy of science and to adopt them as the basis of operation of one's scientific life" and in his summary of Popper's work, Magee states that Popper's is a "philosophy of action" and 'that it "changes peoples lives and the way they do their work". What greater advert could their be for Popper and indeed the study of philosophy.
In the series of posts entitled 'Right and Popper' I'll try to give a brief flavour of some of Popper's insights that I find most intriguing. As I mentioned, everything I know about Popper is based on that tiny 110 page book and hence everything I write here is in fact third-hand. While I'll endeavour to accurately represent Magee's writings, I'll also throw in a healthy dose of my own opinion and conjecture in line with that noble tradition known as 'The Blog Post'.
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