(Raimund) (1902-1994) Austrian philosopher of science. His theory of falsificationism says that although scientific generalizations cannot be conclusively verified, they can be conclusively falsified by a counterinstance; therefore, science is not certain knowledge but a series of “conjectures and refutations”, approaching, though never reaching, a definitive truth. For Popper, psychoanalysis and Marxism are falsifiable and therefore unscientific.
One of the most widely read philosophers of the century, Popper’s book The Open Society and its Enemies 1945 became a modern classic. In it he investigated the long history of attempts to formulate a theory of the state. Animated by a dislike of the views of Freud and Marx, Popper believed he could show that their hypotheses about hidden social and psychological processes were falsifiable.
His major work on the philosophy of science is The Logic of Scientific Discovery 1935. Other works include The Poverty of Historicism 1957 (about the philosophy of social science), Conjectures and Refutations 1963, and Objective Knowledge 1972.
Born and educated in Vienna, Popper served for a while as an assistant to the psychologist Alfred Adler before emigrating to New Zealand in 1937. Returning to Europe, he became a naturalized British subject 1945 and was professor of logic and scientific method at the London School of Economics 1949–69. He opposed Wittgenstein's view that philosophical problems are merely pseudoproblems. Popper's view of scientific practice has been criticized by T S Kuhn and other writers.