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"One of the main tasks for human reason is to make the universe we live in understandable to ourselves. This is the task of science. There are two different components of about equal importance in this enterprise. The first is poetic inventiveness ..."
– Karl Popper
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Author Archives: Rafe
A warning on fake news from R G Collingwood in 1940
R G Collingwood (1889-1943) was an English philosopher and historian who was obsessed with the rise of communism and state socialism while the sciences were making giant strides. A recurring motif in Collingwood’s later writing is the presence of sinister … Continue reading
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Yvor Winters: A Man for all Reasons
An unpublished piece on the US poet, critic and scholar Yvor Winters, written circa 1985 and put into the public domain on my website in the first edition of the Revivalist series. [http://www.the-rathouse.com/YvorWinters.html] Winters combined the careers of poet, critic, … Continue reading
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Compulsory PhDs and the publish or perish syndrome
The Australian poet, academic and critic A D Hope published “Literature versus the Universities” after a 1958 tour of Canada, Great Britain and the United States. He reported that the standards of scholarship and criticism were high but “I found … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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US Arts Funding: luck and cunning!
Not new but illuminating, a study of public policy relating to arts funding, by a really interesting person, Tyler Cowen. His site. The book, Good and Plenty: The Creative Success of American Arts Funding. Princeton Uni, 2006. Good research and scholarship can … Continue reading
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Popper’s Institutional Turn
This paper is a tribute to two books which were inspired by Karl Popper, The Republic of Science by Ian Jarvie and The Organization of Inquiry by Gordon Tullock. Jarvie’s book attracted little attention and Tullock’s book has hardly been … Continue reading
Posted in CR scholars
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Hamming and Mills on research and scholarship
Richard Hamming and C. Wright Mills each made helpful contributions on the strategy and the craft of research, scholarship and writing. Hamming conveyed the results of his experience and research in a long talk which can also be found in … Continue reading
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On the road in the Middle Kingdom
This is a report on my visit to China with my friend Amy to broaden my mind, to meet her family in Beijing and to visit the village where she spent 8 years as a peasant in the Cultural Revolution. … Continue reading
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Hayek in Australia 1976
Between 3 October and 6 November 1976, F.A. Hayek spent five busy weeks in Australia with more than 60 appointments, seminars, informal meetings and formal presentations (Appendix 1). He and his wife travelled almost the full length of the east … Continue reading
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A tribute to Ian C Jarvie
Following the Agassi collection which is anticipated in May, some friends of Joe and his colleague Ian Jarvie are compiling a collection for Ian. My contribution will explore the implications and application of the social turn which Jarvie identified in Popper’s … Continue reading
Posted in epistemology
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‘Brexit’ and the Political Ideals of the Open Society
Rod Thomas Preface, acknowledgements, lament, dedication and disclaimer This paper was written in the months preceding the so-called ‘Brexit’ referendum to decide whether the United Kingdom ought to remain a member of the European Union. It uses starred (*) endnotes … Continue reading
Posted in open society
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