Conservative thinkers: Karl Popper (1902-94)

Overview:

• mainly known for his opposition to totalitarianism and was critical of extreme examples of socialism
• he based his opposition on what he saw as their flawed view of human nature; in line with other conservatives, he believed that human nature is not a fixed aspect of society, but the product of historical change
• those ideologies that viewed human nature as fixed were therefore in error

His ideas:

• he argued that scientific enquiry is based upon the assumption that what has always happened in the past will continue to happen in the future, he saw this as potentially mistaken
• there is no guarantee that what was been happening will continue to happen. Scientific method, therefore, is about proving things to be wrong, rather than confirming that they're right
• he called the process of…