Book contents
- Karl Popper
- Talking Philosophy
- Karl Popper
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Popper, Science and Rationality
- 2 Popper and Reliabilism
- 3 The Problem of the Empirical Basis
- 4 ‘Revolution in Permanence’: Popper on Theory-Change in Science
- 5 Popper’s Contribution to the Philosophy of Probability
- 6 Propensities and Indeterminism
- 7 Popper on Determinism
- 8 Popper and the Quantum Theory
- 9 The Uses of Karl Popper
- 10 Popper and Darwinism
- 11 Popper and the Scepticism of Evolutionary Epistemology, or, What Were Human Beings Made For?
- 12 Does Popper Explain Historical Explanation?
- 13 The Grounds for Anti-Historicism
- 14 What Use is Popper to a Politician?
- Works of Karl Popper Referred to in the Text
- Index
13 - The Grounds for Anti-Historicism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2024
Edited by
Book contents
- Karl Popper
- Talking Philosophy
- Karl Popper
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Popper, Science and Rationality
- 2 Popper and Reliabilism
- 3 The Problem of the Empirical Basis
- 4 ‘Revolution in Permanence’: Popper on Theory-Change in Science
- 5 Popper’s Contribution to the Philosophy of Probability
- 6 Propensities and Indeterminism
- 7 Popper on Determinism
- 8 Popper and the Quantum Theory
- 9 The Uses of Karl Popper
- 10 Popper and Darwinism
- 11 Popper and the Scepticism of Evolutionary Epistemology, or, What Were Human Beings Made For?
- 12 Does Popper Explain Historical Explanation?
- 13 The Grounds for Anti-Historicism
- 14 What Use is Popper to a Politician?
- Works of Karl Popper Referred to in the Text
- Index
Summary
In his seminal The Poverty of Historicism1 (hereafter PH) Sir Karl Popper deployed a number of arguments to prick the pretensions of those who thought that they were, or could come to be, in possession of knowledge of the (social) future. These ‘historicists’ assumed that they could lay bare the law of evolution of a society, and that their possession of knowledge of such a law justified (large-scale) political action which had the aim of removing obstacles to the progress of history. In arguing against historicism Popper was clearly motivated by his interest in removing the intellectual backing for such revolutionary political practice.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Karl Popper , pp. 383 - 410Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024