Popper (Fontana Modern Masters)

It would be insulting to call Bryan Magee a populariser of philosophy, as he has written a magisterial and influential book on Schopenhauer, and he has an unparalleled ability to distill the essence of a philosopher’s work and interrogate him or her on it as he does in the books based on the famous BBC series. This introduction to Popper is amongst his best and one is not surprised to find that Popper himself contributed to, and endorsed it.

Magee's love of communicating philosophy knew no bounds.

Very readable: McGee on K. Popper - a 'must have', iMHO.

Completely satisfied.

A brilliant book - clear, engaging, and short!

An excellent read, giving a concise overview of the great man's work. A word of warning, however; this book is currently (December 2014) being published under the title of 'philosophy and the real world:an introduction to Karl Popper.' I have both, and they are identical.

A brilliant presentation, concise and concentrated, of the thought of Karl Popper with its main complementary components: science, philosophy, epistemology and politics; all in application of his evolutionary rationalism, his theory of Knowledge. Bryan Magee shows very well the unity of methodology in Popper's works, upon what the author called critical rationalism in philosophy and epistemology, and "piecemeal social engineering" in politics. The great philosopher of sciences disapproved essentialism, determinism, and historicism, throughout all the matters the more important is the use of the good method, with a good conception of reason and science, so a logic of scientific discovery. It is a matter of scientific progress, of knowledge and culture in general, and of democracy (differing from utopias). Finally the reader is advised to turn to Popper's books.

Popper by Bryan Magee, Fontana, 1975, 112 ff. A unique view of the scientific method By Howard A. Jones Before starting on this book readers need to know that Popper was a devotee of logical positivism and that his politics are emphatically right of centre, as both these world-views strongly influence his writings. Bryan Magee is a prolific writer and broadcaster, a former MP for Labour and then the SDP, who has specialized in making philosophy accessible to the layman. Popper, who was a close personal friend of Magee's, and Schopenhauer are the philosophers on whom Magee has writtten specifically, but he has also produced books that cover a range of western philosophers. In this book, after presenting a brief biography in Chapter 1, in Chapter 2 Magee deals with Popper's view of science, which differs from the procedure suggested by Francis Bacon that we have all been following for the past four centuries. Put briefly, most scientists I know, myself included, regard science as inductive; Popper claims it is deductive. Provided the laws of logic are followed, deductive reasoning leads to certainty; experimental science can lead us only to probability. Popper is famous for his criterion of demarcation (between science and non-science) that Magee covers in Chapter 3. This rests on the principle of falsification - that the negative instance is more significant than any number of positive example - an idea proposed four hundred years ago quite succinctly again by Francis Bacon. Popper demands that the ability of a theory to be falsified should be an essential criterion for any work regarded as scientific. I think there would be problems for the theory of evolution and quantum theory, as well as for clinical medicine, if this really were a valid criterion. In Chapter 4, Magee explains Popper's Three Worlds: World 1, material objects; World 2, minds; World 3, creations of minds - these include what we call the humanities that Popper claims exist independently of minds. But poetic works, scientific findings and works of art in World 3 have no meaning without World 2, even if they have continued existence after World 2 has perished. Chapter 5 expands on the above themes, and Chapters 6 and 7 deal with Popper's trenchant criticism of Marxism in The Open Society and its critics. Popper had much to say here that is particularly important in today's society and Magee explains this very well. This is an excellent little book that provides a succinct introduction to the writings of Karl Popper, so lucidly presented that readers can make up their own minds about Popper's many controversial ideas. Dr Howard A. Jones is the author of The Thoughtful Guide to God (2006) and The Tao of Holism (2008), both published by O Books of Winchester, UK. The Open Society and Its Enemies: Volume 1 (Routledge Classics): Vol 1 The Open Society and Its Enemies: Volume 2 (Routledge Classics S.) The Poverty of Historicism (Routledge Classics)

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Libro corto y bastante comprensible para libro de filosofía. Magee es especialmente lúcido para explicar conceptos complicados. Una buena introducción a la filosofía de Popper.

Very good treatment of the subject

Brillante présentation, concise et concentrée, de l'oeuvre de Karl Popper avec la complémentarité de ses composantes: philosophique, épistémologique, scientifique et politique. Dans tous les domaines Popper a appliqué sa théorie évolutionniste de la connaissance, sa philosophie des sciences ayant été présentée d'abord dans son livre "La logique de la découverte scientifique" avec la notion centrale de réfutabilité. Bryan Magee montre bien l'unité de la méthode de Popper appelée par lui-même le rationalisme critique en philosophie et en épistémologie, et "piecemeal social engineering" en politique. Le maître de la philosophie des sciences a condamné l'essentialisme, le déterminisme et l'historicisme, tout en défendant son réalisme critique. Dans tous les domaines, ce qui compte est la bonne méthode, sur la base d'une conception juste de la science et de la raison, et de son application dépend le progrès scientifique et la démocratie. C'est en même temps bien sûr une invitation à la lecture des livres de Popper.

The best way to express my view of this lucid, mind-expanding masterpiece, that every scientist and doctor must read, is by saying of all the people in the world the person I would most like to have dinner with is Bryan Magee.