Karl Popper

Find the best quotes, maxims and aphorisms of Karl Popper

Biography : Austrian and British philosopher and professor.
Born: 1902 - Died: 1994
Period:
20th century
Place of birth: Austria
Austria

Austria

Karl Popper - Quotes

A theory which is not refutable by any conceivable event is non-scientific. Irrefutability is not a virtue of a theory (as people often think) but a vice.
Karl Popper - Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge /

Our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite.
Karl Popper /

Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.
Karl Popper /

The history of science, like the history of all human ideas, is a history of irresponsible dreams, of obstinacy, and of error. But science is one of the very few human activities—perhaps the only one — in which errors are systematically criticized and fairly often, in time, corrected. This is why we can say that, in science, we often learn from our mistakes, and why we can speak clearly and sensibly about making progress there.
Karl Popper

No rational argument will have a rational effect on a man who does not want to adopt a rational attitude.
Karl Popper

We must plan for freedom, and not only for security, if for no other reason than that only freedom can make security secure.
Karl Popper

freedom

Science may be described as the art of systematic over-simplification.
Karl Popper

science

Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths.
Karl Popper

Piecemeal social engineering resembles physical engineering in regarding the ends as beyond the province of technology.
Karl Popper