Audiobooks by Karl Popper

The Logic of Scientific Discovery Audiobook

Upon its first English publication in 1959, Popper’s The Logic of Scientific Discovery revolutionized thinking about the scientific method. Largely an exploration of the “demarcation problem,” or what distinguishes science from non-science, Popper introduced and defended his concept of falsifability – that scientific systems are ones open to empirical disconfirmation – against the prevailing views of his day. Now widely considered among the most important books in the history of philosophy of science, The Logic of Scientific Discovery remains essential reading for scholars, scientists, and anyone interested in what makes science, science. This audiobook was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Karl Popper (Author), David Pickering (Narrator)

Audiobook

Two Fundamental Problems of the Theory of Knowledge

In a letter of 1932, Karl Popper described Die beiden Grundprobleme der Erkenntnistheorie – The Two Fundamental Problems of the Theory of Knowledge – as ‘…a child of crises, above all of …the crisis of physics.' Finally available in English, it is a major contribution to the philosophy of science, epistemology and twentieth century philosophy generally. The two fundamental problems of knowledge that lie at the centre of the book are the problem of induction, that although we are able to observe only a limited number of particular events, science nevertheless advances unrestricted universal statements; and the problem of demarcation, which asks for a separating line between empirical science and non-science. Popper seeks to solve these two basic problems with his celebrated theory of falsifiability, arguing that the inferences made in science are not inductive but deductive; science does not start with observations and proceed to generalise them but with problems, which it attacks with bold conjectures. The Two Fundamental Problems of the Theory of Knowledge is essential reading for anyone interested in Karl Popper, in the history and philosophy of science, and in the methods and theories of science itself. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Karl Popper (Author), Martyn Swain (Narrator)

Audiobook

All Life is Problem Solving

All Life is Problem Solving is a stimulating and provocative selection of Popper's writings on his main preoccupations during the last twenty-five years of his life. This collection illuminates Popper's process of working out key formulations in his theory of science, and indicates his view of the state of the world at the end of the Cold War and after the collapse of communism.

Karl Popper (Author), Martyn Swain (Narrator)

Audiobook

Unended Quest: An Intellectual Autobiography

At the age of eight, Karl Popper was puzzling over the idea of infinity and by fifteen was beginning to take a keen interest in his father's well-stocked library of books. Unended Quest recounts these moments and many others in the life of one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century, providing an indispensable account of the ideas that influenced him most. As an introduction to Popper's philosophy, Unended Quest also shines. Popper lucidly explains the central ideas in his work, making this book ideal for anyone coming to Popper's life and work for the first time. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Karl Popper (Author), Martin Swain (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Poverty of Historicism

“Probably the only book published this year which will outlive the century” – ARTHUR KOESTLER Karl Popper's THE POVERTY OF HISTORICISM is one of the most important books on the social sciences to have appeared since the Second World War. It is also the work of one of the most original thinkers of the twentieth-century, and a devastating criticism of the idea that there are laws of development in history and that human beings are able to discover them. Popper dedicated the book to all those who fell victim to the fascist and communist belief in Inexorable Laws of Historical Destiny. Short and lucidly written, it has inspired generations of philosophers, historians, politicians and others, and remains one of the best books for gaining an insight into the ideas of this great thinker. Karl Popper (1902-94). Philosopher, born in Vienna. One of the most influential and controversial thinkers of the twentieth-century. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Karl Popper (Author), Martyn Swain (Narrator)

Audiobook

Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge

Conjectures and Refutations is one of Karl Popper's most wide-ranging and popular works, notable not only for its acute insights into the way scientific knowledge grows, but also for applying those insights to politics and to history. It provides one of the clearest and most accessible statements of the fundamental idea that guided his work: not only our knowledge but our aims and our standards grow through an unending process of trial and error. Popper brilliantly demonstrates how knowledge grows by guesses or conjectures and tentative solutions, which must then be subjected to critical tests. Although they may survive any number of tests, our conjectures remain conjectures, they can never be established as true. What makes Conjectures and Refutations such an enduring book is that Popper goes on to apply this bold theory of the growth of knowledge to a fascinating range of important problems including the role of tradition, the origin of the scientific method, the demarcation between science and metaphysics, the body-mind problem, the way we use language, how we understand history and the dangers of public opinion. Throughout the book Popper stresses the importance of our ability to learn from our mistakes. Conjectures and Refutations is essential listening and a book to be returned to again and again. Karl Popper (1902-94), philosopher, born in Vienna. One of the most influential and controversial thinkers of the twentieth century.

Karl Popper (Author), Martyn Swain (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Myth of the Framework: In Defence of Science and Rationality

In a career spanning 60 years, Sir Karl Popper has made some of the most important contributions to the 20th century discussion of science and rationality. The Myth of the Framework is a collection of some of Popper's most important material on this subject. Sir Karl discusses such issues as the aims of science, the role that it plays in our civilization, the moral responsibility of the scientist, the structure of history and the perennial choice between reason and revolution. In doing so, he attacks intellectual fashions (like positivism) that exaggerate what science and rationality have done, as well as intellectual fashions (like relativism) that denigrate what science and rationality can do. Scientific knowledge, according to Popper, is one of the most rational and creative of human achievements, but it is also inherently fallible and subject to revision. In place of intellectual fashions, Popper offers his own critical rationalism - a view that he regards both as a theory of knowledge and as an attitude towards human life, human morals and democracy. There are nine essays in this collection: 'The Rationality of Scientific Revolutions'; 'The Myth of the Framework'; 'Reason or Revolution'; 'Science: Problems, Aims and Responsibilities'; 'Philosophy and Physics'; 'The Moral Responsibility of the Scientist'; 'A Pluralist Approach to the Philosophy of History'; 'Models, Instruments, and Truth'; 'Epistemology and Industrialization'. In his Introduction, he writes: ‘All, or almost all, the papers collected in this volume are written to defend rationality and rational criticism. It is a way of thinking, and even a way of living: a readiness to listen to critical arguments, to search for one's own mistakes, and to learn from them. It is, fundamentally, an attitude that I have tried to formulate (perhaps first in 1932) in the following two lines: ‘I may be wrong and you may be right, and by an effort, we may get nearer to the truth.' This is vintage Karl Popper.

Karl Popper (Author), Martyn Swain (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Open Society and Its Enemies: New One-Volume Edition

One of the most important books of the twentieth century, Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies is an uncompromising defense of liberal democracy and a powerful attack on the intellectual origins of totalitarianism. Popper was born in 1902 to a Viennese family of Jewish origin. He taught in Austria until 1937, when he emigrated to New Zealand in anticipation of the Nazi annexation of Austria the following year, and he settled in England in 1949. Before the annexation, Popper had written mainly about the philosophy of science, but from 1938 until the end of the Second World War he focused his energies on political philosophy, seeking to diagnose the intellectual origins of German and Soviet totalitarianism. The Open Society and Its Enemies was the result. An immediate sensation when it was first published in two volumes in 1945, Popper's monumental achievement has attained legendary status on both the Left and Right and is credited with inspiring anticommunist dissidents during the Cold War. Arguing that the spirit of free, critical inquiry that governs scientific investigation should also apply to politics, Popper traces the roots of an opposite, authoritarian tendency to a tradition represented by Plato, Marx, and Hegel.

Karl Popper (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)

Audiobook