110+ Karl Popper Quotes On Falsification, Critical And Rational

Karl Popper was an Austrian-British philosopher and professor. He is known for his rejection of the classical observationalist-inductivist accounts of knowledge, which he replaced with critical rationalism. His political philosophy embraced ideas from major democratic political ideologies, including socialism/social democracy, libertarianism/classical liberalism and conservatism, and he was an ardent critic of totalitarianism. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Karl Popper on falsification, critical, rational.

Top 10 Karl Popper Quotes

1. 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.
2. The growth of knowledge depends entirely upon disagreement.
3. No rational argument will have a rational effect on a man who does not want to adopt a rational attitude.
4. True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it.
5. The best thing that can happen to a human being us to find a problem, to fall in love with that problem, and to live trying to solve that problem, unless another problem even more lovable appears.
6. Ignorance is not a simple lack of knowledge but an active aversion to knowledge, the refusal to know, issuing from cowardice, pride, or laziness of mind.
7. 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.
8. I may be wrong and you may be right, and by an effort, we may get nearer to the truth
9. The attempt to make heaven on earth invariably produces hell.
10. Those who promise us paradise on earth never produced anything but a hell.

Karl Popper Image Quotes

Those who promise us paradise on earth never produced anything but a hell. — Karl Popper

Karl Popper Short Quotes

• We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.
• It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood.
• Every solution of a problem raises new unsolved problems.
• If we wish our civilization to survive we must break with the habit of deference to great men.
• It can't happen here is always wrong: a dictatorship can happen anywhere.
• All life is problem solving
• We never know what we are talking about.
• We have become makers of our fate when we have ceased to pose as its prophets.
• Science may be described as the art of systematic over-simplification.
• Our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite.

Karl Popper Quotes About Critical

A rationalist is simply someone for whom it is more important to learn than to be proved right; someone who is willing to learn from others - not by simply taking over another's opinions, but by gladly allowing others to criticize his ideas and by gladly criticizing the ideas of others — Karl Popper

The genuine rationalist does not think that he or anyone else is in possession of the truth; nor does he think that mere criticism as such helps us achieve new ideas. But he does think that, in the sphere of ideas, only critical discussion can help us sort the wheat from the chaff. — Karl Popper

Science is perhaps the only human activity in which errors are systematically criticized and, in time, corrected. — Karl Popper

[Great scientists] are men of bold ideas, but highly critical of their own ideas: they try to find whether their ideas are right by trying first to find whether they are not perhaps wrong. They work with bold conjectures and severe attempts at refuting their own conjectures. — Karl Popper

Reason like science, grows by way of mutual criticism; the only possible way of planning its growth is to develop those institutions that safeguard. the freedom of thought — Karl Popper

Our belief in any particular natural law cannot have a safer basis than our unsuccessful critical attempts to refute it. — Karl Popper

Propose theories which can be criticized. Think about possible decisive falsifying experiments-crucial experiments. But do not give up your theories too easily-not, at any rate, before you have critically examined your criticism. — Karl Popper

Thus science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths; neither with the collection of observations, nor with the invention of experiments, but with the critical discussion of myths, and of magical techniques and practices. — Karl Popper

The scientific tradition is distinguished from the pre-scientific tradition by having two layers. Like the latter, it passes on its theories; but it also passes on a critical attitude towards them. — Karl Popper

It is not his possession of knowledge, of irrefutable truth, that makes the man of science, but his persistent and recklessly critical quest for truth. — Karl Popper

Karl Popper Quotes About Rational

Rationalism is an attitude of readiness to listen to contrary arguments and to learn from experience... of admitting that "I may be wrong and you may be right and, by an effort, we may get nearer the truth." — Karl Popper

Better our hypotheses die for our errors than ourselves. — Karl Popper

Serious rational criticism is so rare that it should be encouraged. Being too ready to defend oneself is more dangerous than being too ready to admit a mistake. — Karl Popper

You cannot have a rational discussion with a man who prefers shooting you to being convinced by you. — Karl Popper

Karl Popper Quotes About Refutable

There can be no ultimate statements science: there can be no statements in science which can not be tested, and therefore none which cannot in principle be refuted, by falsifying some of the conclusions which can be deduced from them. — Karl Popper

Every genuine test of a theory is an attempt to falsify it, or to refute it. — Karl Popper

It must be possible for an empirical system to be refuted by experience. — Karl Popper

Karl Popper Famous Quotes And Sayings

Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. — Karl Popper

I remained a socialist for several years, even after my rejection of Marxism; and if there could be such a thing as socialism combined with individual liberty, I would be a socialist still. For nothing could be better than living a modest, simple, and free life in an egalitarian society. — Karl Popper

The war of ideas is a Greek invention. It is one of the most important inventions ever made. Indeed, the possibility of fighting with with words and ideas instead of fighting with swords is the very basis of our civilization, and especially of all its legal and parliamentary institutions. — Karl Popper

Those who promise us paradise on earth never produced anything but a hell. — Karl Popper

We do not choose political freedom because it promises us this or that. We choose it because it makes possible the only dignified form of human coexistence, the only form in which we can be fully responsible for ourselves. Whether we realize its possibilities depends on all kinds of things — and above all on ourselves. — Karl Popper

We all remember how many religious wars were fought for a religion of love and gentleness; how many bodies were burned alive with the genuinely kind intention of saving souls from the eternal fire of hell. — Karl Popper

Evolution is not a fact. Evolution doesn't even qualify as a theory or as a hypothesis. It is a metaphysical research program, and it is not really testable science. — Karl Popper

Our aim as scientists is objective truth; more truth, more interesting truth, more intelligible truth. We cannot reasonably aim at certainty. Once we realize that human knowledge is fallible, we realize also that we can never be completely certain that we have not made a mistake. — Karl Popper

It is the rule which says that the other rules of scientific procedure must be designed in such a way that they do not protect any statement in science against falsification. — Karl Popper

We have the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should tolerate even them whenever we can do so without running a great risk; but the risk may become so great that we cannot allow ourselves the luxury. — Karl Popper

Optimism is a duty. The future is open. It is not predetermined. No one can predict it, except by chance. We all contribute to determining it by what we do. We are all equally responsible for its success. — Karl Popper

In my view, aiming at simplicity and lucidity is a moral duty of all intellectuals: lack of clarity is a sin, and pretentiousness is a crime. — Karl Popper

Bold ideas, unjustified anticipations, and speculative thought, are our only means for interpreting nature: our only organon, our only instrument, for grasping her. And we must hazard them to win our prize. Those among us who are unwilling to expose their ideas to the hazard of refutation do not take part in the scientific game. — Karl Popper

no matter how many instances of white swans we may have observed, this does not justify the conclusion that all swans are white. — Karl Popper

The difference between the amoeba and Einstein is that, although both make use of the method of trial and error elimination, the amoeba dislikes erring while Einstein is intrigued by it. — Karl Popper

Whenever we propose a solution to a problem, we ought to try as hard as we can to overthrow our solution, rather than defend it. — Karl Popper

Do not allow your dreams of a beautiful world to lure you away from the claims of men who suffer here and now. Our fellow men have a claim to our help; no generation must be sacrificed for the sake of future generations. — Karl Popper

. . . it seems to me certain that more people are killed out of righteous stupidity than out of wickedness. — Karl Popper

There is an almost universal tendency, perhaps an inborn tendency, to suspect the good faith of a man who holds opinions that differ from our own opinions. It obviously endangers the freedom and the objectivity of our discussion if we attack a person instead of attacking an opinion or, more precisely, a theory. — Karl Popper

We are social creatures to the inmost centre of our being. The notion that one can begin anything at all from scratch, free from the past, or unindebted to others, could not conceivably be more wrong. — Karl Popper

I have come to the conclusion that Darwinism is not a testable scientific theory, but a metaphysical research programme. — Karl Popper

It is wrong to ask who will rule. The ability to vote a bad government out of office is enough. That is democracy. — Karl Popper

We know a great deal, but our ignorance is sobering and boundless. With each step forward, with each problem which we solve, we not only discover new and unsolved problems, but we also discover that where we believed that we were standing on firm and safe ground, all things are, in truth, insecure and in a state of flux. — Karl Popper

It is complete nihilism to propose laying down arms in a world where atom bombs are around. It is very simple: there is no way of achieving peace other than with weapons. — Karl Popper

All we can do is search for the falsity content in our best theory. — Karl Popper

A theory is just a mathematical model to describe the observations. — Karl Popper

The quest for precision is analogous to the quest for certainty and both - precision and certainty are impossible to attain. — Karl Popper

The conspiracy theory of society... comes from abandoning god and then asking: "Who is in his place" — Karl Popper

The moral decisions of others should be treated with respect, as long as such decisions do not conflict with the principle of tolerance. — Karl Popper

Plato felt that a complete reconstruction of society's political program was needed. — Karl Popper

Some scientists find, or so it seems, that they get their best ideas when smoking; others by drinking coffee or whisky. Thus there is no reason why I should not admit that some may get their ideas by observing, or by repeating observations. — Karl Popper

I have learned more from Hayek than from any other living thinker, except perhaps Alfred Tarski - but not even excepting Russell. — Karl Popper

The fundamental thing about human languages is that they can and should be used to describe something; and this something is, somehow, the world. To be constantly and almost exclusively interested in the medium - in spectacle-cleaning - is a result of a philosophical mistake. — Karl Popper

A rationalist, as I use the word, is a man who attempts to reach decisions by argument and perhaps, in certain cases, by compromise, rather than by violence. He is a man who would rather be unsuccessful in convincing another man by argument than successful in crushing him by force, by intimidation and threats, or even by persuasive propaganda. — Karl Popper

We hate the very idea that our own ideas may be mistaken, so we cling dogmatically to our conjectures. — Karl Popper

It is part of my thesis that all our knowledge grows only through the correcting of our mistakes. — Karl Popper

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

The method of science depends on our attempts to describe the world with simple theories: theories that are complex may become untestable, even if they happen to be true. Science may be described as the art of systematic over-simplification-the art of discerning what we may with advantage omit. — Karl Popper

The future is always present, as a promise, a lure and a temptation. — Karl Popper

Science is the century-old endeavour to bring together by means of systematic thought the perceptible phenomena of this world into as thorough-going an association as possible. To put it boldly, it is the attempt at a posterior reconstruction of existence by the process of conceptualization. Science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgements of all kinds remain necessary. — Karl Popper

A system is empirical or scientific only if it is capable of being tested by experience. These considerations suggest that not the verifiability but the falsifiability of a system is to be taken as a criterion of demarcation... It must be possible for an empirical or scientific system to be refuted by experience. — Karl Popper

No book can ever be finished. While working on it we learn just enough to find it immature the moment we turn away from it — Karl Popper

The history of science, like the history of all human ideas, is a history of irresponsible dreams, of obstinacy, and of error. — Karl Popper

The initial stage, the act of conceiving or inventing a theory, seems to me neither to call for logical analysis nor to be susceptible of it. — Karl Popper

To give a causal explanation of an event means to deduce a statement which describes it, using as premises of the deduction one or more universal laws, together with certain singular statements, the initial conditions ... We have thus two different kinds of statement, both of which are necessary ingredients of a complete causal explanation. — Karl Popper

[The aim of science is] to explain what so far has taken to be an explicans, such as a law of nature. The task of empirical science constantly renews itself. We may go on forever, proceeding to explanations of a higher and higher universality. — Karl Popper

What really makes science grow is new ideas, including false ideas. — Karl Popper

There will be well-testable theories, hardly testable theories, and non-testable theories. Those which are non-testable are of no interest to empirical scientists. They may be described as metaphysical. — Karl Popper

Contrary to the outstanding work of art, outstanding theory is susceptible to improvements. — Karl Popper

If we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. — Karl Popper

Historically speaking all - or very nearly all - scientific theories originate from myths. — Karl Popper

The old scientific ideal of episteme - of absolutely certain, demonstrable knowledge - has proved to be an idol. The demand for scientific objectivity makes it inevitable that every scientific statement must remain tentative for ever. — Karl Popper

I have insisted that we must be tolerant. But I also believe that this tolerance has its limits. We must not trust those anti-humanitarian religions which not only preach destruction but act accordingly. For if we tolerate them, then we become ourselves responsible for for their deeds. — Karl Popper

It is wrong to think that belief in freedom always leads to victory; we must always be prepared for it to lead to defeat. If we choose freedom, then we must be prepared to perish along with it. — Karl Popper

The belief in a political Utopia is especially dangerous. This is possibly connected with the fact that the search for a better world, like the investigation of our environment, is (if I am correct) one of the oldest and most important of all the instincts. — Karl Popper

A system such as classical mechanics may be 'scientific' to any degree you like; but those who uphold it dogmatically - believing, perhaps, that it is their business to defend such a successful system against criticism as long as it is not conclusively disproved - are adopting the very reverse of that critical attitude which in my view is the proper one for the scientist. — Karl Popper

It is a myth that the success of science in our time is mainly due to the huge amounts of money that have been spent on big machines. What really makes science grow is new ideas, including false ideas. — Karl Popper

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

If we are uncritical we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find, confirmations, and we shall look away from, and not see, whatever might be dangerous to our pet theories. In this way it is only too easy to obtain what appears to be overwhelming evidence in favor of a theory which, if approached critically, would have been refuted. — Karl Popper

There is no history of mankind, there is only an indefinite number of histories of all kinds of aspects of human life. — Karl Popper

There is no pure, disinterested, theory-free observation. — Karl Popper

All things living are in search of a better world . — Karl Popper

The more we learn about the world, and the deeper our learning, the more conscious, specific, and articulate will be our knowledge of what we do not know, our knowledge of our ignorance — Karl Popper

Instead of encouraging the student to devote himself to his studies for the sake of studying, instead of encouraging in him a real love for his subject and for inquiry, he is encouraged to study for the sake of his personal career; he is led to acquire only such knowledge as is serviceable in getting him over the hurdles which he must clear for the sake of his advancement. — Karl Popper

The survival value of intelligence is that it allows us to extinct a bad idea, before the idea extincts us. — Karl Popper

A theory that explains everything, explains nothing — Karl Popper

Genuine philosophical problems are always rooted outside philosophy and they die if these roots decay. — Karl Popper

My thesis is that what we call 'science' is differentiated from the older myths not by being something distinct from a myth, but by being accompanied by a second-order tradition-that of critically discussing the myth. ... In a certain sense, science is myth-making just as religion is. — Karl Popper

[To] interpret Parmenides as a Kant before Kant ... this is exactly what we must do. — Karl Popper

We do not know anything - this is the first. Therefore, we should be very modest - this is the second. Not to claim that we do know when we do not - this is the third. That's the kind of attitude I'd like to popularize. There is little hope for success. — Karl Popper

Our aim must be to make our successive mistakes as quickly as possible. To speed up evolution. — Karl Popper

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

It is wrong and dangerous to extol freedom by telling people that they will certainly be all right once they are free. The most we can say of democracy or freedom is that they give our personal abilities a little more influence on our well-being. — Karl Popper

But it is certainly not possible to insist on one hand that the formalism is complete and to insist on the other hand that its application to 'the actual' actually demands a step which cannot be derived from it. — Karl Popper

The influence (for good or ill) of Plato's work is immeasurable. Western thought, one might say, has been Platonic or anti-Platonic, but hardly ever non-Platonic. — Karl Popper

The only way to test a hypothesis is to look for all the information that disagrees with it. — Karl Popper

In so far as a scientific statement speaks about reality, it must be falsifiable; and in so far as it is not falsifiable, it does not speak about reality. — Karl Popper

When we enter a new situation in life and are confronted by a new person, we bring with us the prejudices of the past and our previous experiences of people. These prejudices we project upon the new person. Indeed, getting to know a person is largely a matter of withdrawing projections; of dispelling the smoke screen of what we imagine he is like and replacing it with the reality of what he is actually like. — Karl Popper

Appealing to his [Einstein's] way of expressing himself in theological terms, I said: If God had wanted to put everything into the universe from the beginning, He would have created a universe without change, without organisms and evolution, and without man and man's experience of change. But he seems to have thought that a live universe with events unexpected even by Himself would be more interesting than a dead one. — Karl Popper

Life Lessons by Karl Popper

1. Karl Popper taught that knowledge is based on conjecture and refutation, meaning that we should not be afraid to challenge our own ideas and beliefs in order to learn and grow.
2. He also believed that we should strive to make the world a better place through our actions, and that we should be open to criticism and willing to change our minds if we are presented with new evidence.
3. Finally, he argued that the only way to make progress is to be willing to take risks and accept that failure is part of the process of learning and growth.