Karl R. Popper

David W. Miller

Sir Karl Raimund Popper

These excerpts from the writings of Sir Karl Popper are an outstanding introduction to one of the most controversial of living philosophers, known especially for his devastating criticisms of Plato and Marx and for his uncompromising rejection of inductive reasoning. David Miller, a leading expositor and critic of Popper's work, has chosen thirty selections that illustrate the profundity and originality of his ideas and their applicability to current intellectual and social problems. Miller's introduction demonstrates the remarkable unity of Popper's thought and briefly describes his philosophy of critical rationalism, a philosophy that is distinctive in its emphasis on the way in which we learn through the making and correcting of mistakes. Popper has relentlessly challenged both the authority and the appeal to authority of the most fashionable philosophies of our time. This book of selections from his nontechnical writings on the theory of knowledge, the philosophy of science, metaphysics, and social philosophy is imbued with his emphasis on the role and by reason in exposing and eliminating the errors among them.

Popper Selections

6.5 Pure Bayesianism -- Technical Note -- 7. On the Maximization of Expected Futility -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 The Requirement of Total Evidence -- 7.3 Good's Answer -- 7.4 Acquiring a Necktie -- 7.5 Criticism of Good's Answer -- 7.6 Probability Kinematics -- 7.7 Acquiring a Necktie (continued) -- 7.8 Conclusion -- 8. Diverging Distributions -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 The Logistic Function -- 8.3 The Binomial Distribution -- 8.4 A Chaotic Distribution -- 8.5 Another Chaotic Distribution -- 8.6 Scientific Objectivity -- 8.7 Approximate Distributions -- 8.8 Conclusion -- Technical Note

A Restatement and Defence

Critical Rationalism

Ian Charles Jarvie

Karl Milford

Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994) is one of the most controversial and widely read philosophers of the 20th century. Volume II deals with Popper's metaphysics and epistemology, including his proposal (critical rationalism) that it is through sharp criticism rather than through the provision of justification that our knowledge progresses.

Karl Popper: Metaphysics and epistemology

In God at Work, David W. Miller looks at how the Faith at Work movement developed and considers its potential value for business and society. Drawing on the insights of theological ethics as well as the sociology of religion, Miller analyzes the history of the modern day Faith at Work movement from its roots in the late 19th century to its modern formulation and trajectory. He examines the diversity of its members and modes of expression, and constructs a new framework for understanding, interpreting, and critiquing the movement and its future. Miller concludes that workers and professionals desire to live a holistic life, to integrate the claims of their faith with the demands of their work. He documents the abdication of this field by church and theological academy and its embrace, by the management academy. Offering evidence of the depth and breadth of spirituality at work, Miller concludes that faith at work is a bona fide social movement and here to stay. He establishes the importance of this movement, identifies the possibilities and problems, and points toward future research questions.--From publisher's description.

The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement

God at Work

Sir Karl Popper (1902 1994) is one of the most controversial and widely read philosophers of the 20th century. His influence has been enormous in the fields of epistemology, logic, metaphysics, methodology of science, the philosophy of physics and biology, political philosophy, and the social sciences, and his intellectual achievement has stimulated many scholars in a wide range of disciplines. These three volumes of previously unpublished essays, which originate in the congress 'Karl Popper 2002' held in Vienna to mark the centenary of Popper's birth, provide an up-to-date examination of many aspects of Popper's life and thought. Volume 1 discusses a variety of topics in Popper's early intellectual history, and considers also some features of his remarkable influence outside philosophy. The second part of the volume contains papers that from different political perspectives tackle problems raised by Popper's principal contribution to political theory, democracy and community, "The Open Society and Its Enemies". Volume 2 deals especially with Popper's metaphysics and epistemology, including his proposal (critical rationalism) that it is through sharp criticism rather than through the provision of justification that our knowledge progresses. Several papers tackle the problem of the empirical basis, and offer decidedly different answers to some unresolved questions. The volume contains also a number of papers evaluating Popper's celebrated, but much contested, solution to Hume's problem of induction. Volume 3 examines Popper's contribution to our understanding of logic, mathematics, physics, biology, and the social sciences, from economics to education. Among the topics covered are: verisimilitude, quantum and statistical physics, the propensity interpretation of probability, evolutionary epistemology, the so-called Positivimusstreit, Popper's critique of Marx, and his defence of the rationality principle as a component of all social explanations.

David W. Miller

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