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In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years QUOTES

In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years QUOTES

1 " Despite my admiration for scientific knowledge, I am not an adherent of scientism. For scientism dogmatically asserts the authority of scientific knowledge; whereas I do not believe in any authority and have always resisted dogmatism; and I continue to resist it, especially in science. I am opposed to the thesis that the scientist must believe in his theory. As far as I am concerned “I do not believe in belief,” as E. M. Forster says; and I especially do not believe in belief in science. I believe at most that belief has a place in ethics, and even here only in a few instances. I believe, for example, that objective truth is a value — that is, an ethical value, perhaps the greatest value there is — and that cruelty is the greatest evil. "

― Karl Popper , In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years

2 " Knowledge consists in the search for truth — the search for objectively true, explanatory theories. It is not the search for certainty. To err is human. All human knowledge is fallible and therefore uncertain. It follows that we must distinguish sharply between truth and certainty. That to err is human means not only that we must constantly struggle against error, but also that, even when we have taken the greatest care, we cannot be completely certain that we have not made a mistake… To combat the mistake, the error, means therefore to search for objective truth and to do everything possible to discover and eliminate falsehoods. This is the task of scientific activity. Hence we can say: our aim as scientists is objective truth; more truth, more interesting truth, more intelligible truth. We cannot reasonably aim at certainty.... Since we can never know anything for sure, it is simply not worth searching for certainty; but it is well worth searching for truth; and we do this chiefly by searching for mistakes, so that we can correct them. "

― Karl Popper , In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years

3 " Relativism is one of the many crimes committed by intellectuals. It is a betrayal of reason and of humanity. "

― Karl Popper , In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years

4 " But the approach to truth is not easy. There is only one way towards it, the way through error. Only through our errors can we learn; and only he will learn who is ready to appreciate and even to cherish the errors of others as stepping stones towards truth, and who searches for his own errors: who tries to find them, since only when he has become aware of them can he free himself from them. "

― Karl Popper , In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years

5 " يعتقد الناس عندما يسمعون الكلمات
أن وراءها بالضرورة أفكاراً ترافقها "

― Karl Popper , In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years

6 " يمكنني أن أقول دون أدنى مبالغة..إن كل مفكر ذا سمعة في أيامنا هذه يحس بإلتزام لا يقاوم بأن يصبح عرّافاً متشائم!
فعدم تشاؤمه ليس إلا خرقاً لتقاليد المهنة
يواكبه تفكير عميق وقدرة لإلهاماته المبهمة على التأثير في الناس "

― Karl Popper , In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years

7 " إنني أقترح أن نستبدل بهذا السؤال سؤالاً مختلفا تماما وأكثر تواضعا مثل:
كفي يمكن أن ننظم مؤسساتنا السياسية بحيث لا يستطيع الحكام غير الأكفاء
-الذين يجب بالضبط أن نحاول تجنبهم-ومع ذلك فقد يفوزون بالحكم-
أن يسببوا إلا أقل قدر من الضرر؟

إنني أعتقد أنه ما لم نغير السؤال بهذه الطريقة فلن نستطيع أبداً أن نتأمل في التقدم نحو نظرية معقولة للدولة ومؤسساتها. "

― Karl Popper , In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years

8 " لا معنى مخبوء في التاريخ ولامعنى في الحديث عن معنى
التاريخ "

― Karl Popper , In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years

9 " ان الليبرالية عقيدة تطورية لا ثورية (الا اذا واجهت نظاما شموليا استبداديا) "

― Karl Popper , In Search of a Better World: Lectures and Essays from Thirty Years