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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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Category Archives: essentialism
Essentialism
Anti-essentialism is a Popperian idea that many people are either unaware of or do not understand. Many people are essentialists, particularly people who think they understand philosophy, but essentialism is a bad mistake. There are two separate ideas that Popper … Continue reading
Posted in epistemology, essentialism, science
4 Comments
Essentialism vs freedom
Michael Sandel gives an interesting TED Talk on democracy, saying that we should talk more about the deep moral convictions people have to raise the level of debate in democracy. This may be a good idea, but unfortunately his argument … Continue reading
Posted in essentialism, ethics, open society
1 Comment
Review: Beyond Wittgenstein’s Poker by Peter Munz
I think it can safely be said that Popper and Wittgenstein didn’t like each other much and that their dedicated followers have not shown much interest in overcoming this dislike. Peter Munz makes an attempt to heal this breach in … Continue reading
Posted in epistemology, essentialism
2 Comments
Notes on essentialism
[I compiled these notes February of 2003. There are several things I would revise now, and some specific points where I feel I am in error. However, there are a lot of nice quotes here and plenty food for thought, … Continue reading
Posted in essentialism
1 Comment