Popper, Karl

Popper, Karl

Karl Raimund Popper (1902–1994) was a philosopher of science and politics best known for advancing falsifiability as the criterion for distinguishing science from non-science and for a defense of what he termed the open society. Born in Vienna on July 28, Popper received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Vienna in 1928. After teaching secondary school from 1930 to 1936, he fled the rise of Nazism and the impending Anschluss by emigrating to New Zealand, where he lectured in philosophy at Canterbury University College. In 1946 he moved to England, and three years later became professor at the London School of Economics, which he developed into a leading center for philosophy of science. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1965 and elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1976. Popper remained active as a writer and lecturer until his death in Croydon, Surrey, on September 17.

Philosophy of Science

Popper's philosophy of science emerged in the context of Vienna Circle logical positivism, which held that scientific and therefore all meaningful statements are of two kinds, with their truth or falsity accordingly verifiable in one of two ways. Analytic statements (for example, Triangles are three-sided plane figures) are true or false simply on the basis of their conceptual and logical structure; synthetic (empirical) statements (such as The tree is green) are verifiable insofar as they can be tested by positive sense experience.

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