Abstract
This small book—six essays in 89 pages of text—is well worth reading. The essays are the proceedings of a conference on Popper’s philosophy which was held in Warsaw in March of 1995. As the title promises, they offer some insights into the significance of Popper’s thought (see, especially, the essays by Joseph Agassi and Ernest Gellner). They also contain perceptive critical comments and suggestions as to how we may use some of Popper’s results to move forward. In
the first section, entitled “Karl Popper’s Three Worlds,” John Watkins and Adam Grobler discuss Popper’s three-world theory in relation to evolutionary theory and the theory of rationality, respectively. Essays by Joseph Agassi and Stefan Amsterdamski are presented under the subtitle, “The Scientific Method as Ethics.” Agassi discusses the regrettable lack of honesty in the public relations of science. He sees this lack as a product of a widespread refusal to abandon idealized views of science, which allow one to abandon one’s autonomy. The significance of Popper’s approach is that it calls us to treat science more realistically and individuals to accept responsibility and autonomy: these cannot be delegated to science. The editor’s own contribution contends that knowledge is unavoidably conditioned by historical and sociological circumstances and that in his later philosophy Popper mistakenly sought to avoid this consequence. He somewhat misleadingly calls his view relativist in an attempt to distinguish it from Popper’s even while stressing his debt to him. The last two essays appear under the subtitle “The Open Society and Its Prospects.” Ernest Gellner discusses some of the illiberal traits in Popper’s personality which lead to defects in his, according to Gellner, extremely important defense of liberalism, and which can be improved by a more sociological perspective.