Editing Karl Popper (section)

== Influence ==
[[File:Karl Popper2.jpg|left|thumb|Popper in 1990]]
{{Liberalism sidebar}}
Popper helped to establish the [[philosophy of science]] as an autonomous discipline within philosophy, both through his own prolific and influential works and through his influence on his contemporaries and students. In 1946, Popper founded the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at the [[London School of Economics]] (LSE) and there lectured and influenced both [[Imre Lakatos]] and [[Paul Feyerabend]], two of the foremost philosophers of science in the next generation. (Lakatos significantly modified Popper's position,<ref name="Kadvany_Lakatos_2001">{{Cite book |last=Kadvany |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ih_muDscIY8C&q=Imre+Lakatos+and+the+Guises+of+Reason&pg=PA1 |title=Imre Lakatos and the Guises of Reason |date=2001 |publisher=Duke University Press Books |isbn=978-0-8223-2660-1 |page=400 |access-date=22 January 2016}}[http://www.johnkadvany.com/GettingStarted/Kadvany_Design/Assets/LakatosPage/Lakatos_Frameset_3.htm Site on Lakatos/Popper John Kadvany, PhD] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214033705/http://johnkadvany.com/GettingStarted/Kadvany_Design/Assets/LakatosPage/Lakatos_Frameset_3.htm |date=14 February 2015 }}</ref>{{rp|1}} and Feyerabend repudiated it entirely, but the work of both was deeply influenced by Popper and engaged with many of the problems that Popper set.)

Although there is some dispute as to the matter of influence, Popper had a longstanding and close friendship with economist [[Friedrich Hayek]], who was also brought to LSE from Vienna. Each found support and similarities in the other's work, citing each other often, though not without qualification. In a letter to Hayek in 1944, Popper stated, "I think I have learnt more from you than from any other living thinker, except perhaps [[Alfred Tarski]]."<ref>Hacohen, 2000</ref> Popper dedicated his ''Conjectures and Refutations'' to Hayek. For his part, Hayek dedicated a collection of papers, ''Studies in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics'', to Popper, and in 1982 said, "ever since his ''Logik der Forschung'' first came out in 1934, I have been a complete adherent to his general theory of methodology."<ref>Weimer and Palermo, 1982</ref>

Popper also had long and mutually influential friendships with art historian [[Ernst Gombrich]], biologist [[Peter Medawar]], and neuroscientist [[John Carew Eccles]]. The German jurist [[Reinhold Zippelius]] uses Popper's method of "trial and error" in his legal philosophy.<ref>Reinhold Zippelius, ''Die experimentierende Methode im Recht'', 1991 ({{ISBN|3515059016}}),  and ''Rechtsphilosophie'', 6th ed., 2011 ({{ISBN|978-3406611919}})</ref> [[Peter Medawar]] called him "incomparably the greatest philosopher of science that has ever been".<ref>''[[Wittgenstein's Poker]]'', page 209</ref>

Popper's influence, both through his work in philosophy of science and through his political philosophy, has also extended beyond the academy. One of Popper's students at LSE was [[George Soros]], who later became a billionaire investor and among whose philanthropic foundations is the [[Open Society Institute]], a think-tank named in honour of Popper's ''[[The Open Society and Its Enemies]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Soros |first=George |url=https://archive.org/details/ageoffallibility00soro |title=The Age of Fallibility |publisher=Public Affairs |year=2006 |location=NY |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ageoffallibility00soro/page/16 16–18] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Soros |first=George |date=1997-02-01 |title=The Capitalist Threat |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/02/the-capitalist-threat/376773/ |access-date=2022-02-07 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref> Soros revised his own philosophy, differing from some of Popper's [[Epistemology|epistemological]] assumptions, in a lecture entitled ''Open Society'' given at [[Central European University]] on 28 October 2009:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Soros |first=George |title=Open Society |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFyfYBcbbac |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/DFyfYBcbbac |archive-date=2021-10-30 |access-date=December 7, 2020 |website=[[YouTube]]|date=11 October 2010 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Popper was mainly concerned with the problems of understanding of reality [...] He argued that and I quote "only democracy provides an institutional framework that permits reform without violence, and so the use of reason in politics matters." But his approach was based on a hidden assumption, namely, that the main purpose of thinking is to gain a better understanding of reality. And that was not necessarily the case. The manipulative function could take precedence over the cognitive function [...] How could Popper take it for granted that free political discourse is aimed at understanding reality? And even more intriguingly, how could I, who gave the manipulative function pride of place in the concept of reflexivity, follow him so blindly? [...] Let me spell out my conclusion more clearly, an open society is a desirable form of social organization, both as a means to an end, and an end in itself [...] provided it gives precedence to the cognitive over the manipulative function and people are willing to confront harsh realities. [...] The value of individual freedom is likely to assume increasing importance in the immediate future.}}