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Dmytro Sepetyi
Essays on Karl Popper’s and William Bartley's Philosophy
This is a collection of papers
which initially have been written separately as discussions of different
aspects of Popperian thought. There happened to be one recurrent issue
addressed in most of this papers, and this issue had given the name to the
collection. The issue is: how are we to understand correctly Popper’s-Bartley’s
non-justificationism – the thesis that justification of our theories,
statements and other positions is impossible and that we can well do without it
with no impairment to rationality. I think that there is much of
misunderstanding about this these both among Popper’s opponents and Popperians
– too radical interpretations which aren’t warranted by Popper’s and Bartley’s
explanations and arguments and which make critical rationalism look as a sheer
absurdity. We need be careful to see what Popper and Bartley did mean – and
what they didn’t mean – by “justification” when arguing that it is impossible
and unneeded; what is that “justification” to which their argument apply. And
we need to understand that there are other things which may be (and, in fact,
are sometimes) called “justification” (in full accord with the common-language
meaning of the word) to which Popper’s and Bartley’s arguments don’t apply.
Also, the description of Popper’s theory as ‘negative’ rationality or model of
reason (instead of ‘critical’) is conductive to grave misunderstanding.
Popper and his followers have spent
huge amount of time and efforts to refute ‘the positivist legend’ about
Popper’s philosophy – the legend which represented Popper’s philosophy as a
variety of positivism. I am afraid that now this legend is (not fully, but to a
large extent) replaced not so much with an adequate understanding as with the
opposite, and just as much detrimental, negativist
legend about Popper’s philosophy.
Published Articles
Drafts
On Karl Popper’s philosophy
· Three Popper’s Theories to Be Distinguished and Two Misinterpretations to Be Avoided
On William Warren Bartley’s philosophy
·
Critical Rationalism, Comprehensiveness and Extra-Rational Judgements
·
Comprehensively Critical Rationalism: Rationality with Revisable Foundations
On David Miller’s philosophy
· In Defence of Reasons and Other Criticisms of D.Miller’s Critical Rationalism
· Why
Entertaining a Hypothesis is not the Same with Accepting (Classifying) It as
True
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