Towards Exploring an Enduring Liberal-Communitarianism in Karl Popper Through His Intellectual Biography

Abstract

This paper offers here some new insights into the philosophy of critical rationalism through some accounts of Popper’s biography. In particular, it elaborates on the features of an enduring liberal-communitarianism in Popper that many commentators upon Popper do not see. The two important features are the individual and social aspects of Popper’s critical rationalism. These are, in my view, very essential to understanding Popper’s philosophy of science and Popper’s political philosophy. Events of Popper’s life together informed the development of his philosophy of science and his political philosophy. An essential balance in both can best be grasped by newly considering Popper’s biography and its context.

Keywords: rationalism, liberal-communitarianism, individual, social, biography, Popper