(Library of Living Philosophers XIV.I) Popper, Karl R._ Schlipp, Paul - The Philosophy of Karl Popper. 1-Open Court

I was twelve, then, when the First World War broke out; and the war years, and their aftermath, were in every respect decisive for my intellectual development. They made me critical of accepted opinions, especially political opinions

I remember how, after this discussion, I tried strongly to impress on myself that I must always remember the principle of never arguing about words and their meanings, because such arguments are specious and insignificant.

Tags: #epistemology #logic

Though I found the Critique much too difficult I could see that it was about real problems. I remember that after trying to read (I do not suppose with much understanding, but certainly with fascination) the Preface to the second edition of the Critique (in the edition by Benno Erdmann), I turned the pages and was struck and puzzled by that queer arrangement of the Antinomies

Never let yourself be goaded into taking seriously problems about words and their meanings. What must be taken seriously are questions of fact, and assertions about facts: theories and hypotheses, the problems they solve and the problems they raise.

Tags: #epistemology

yet both precision and certainty are false ideals. They are impossible to attain, and therefore dangerously misleading if they are uncritically accepted as guides

yet both precision and certainty are false ideals. They are impossible to attain, and therefore dangerously misleading if they are uncritically accepted as guides. The quest for precision is analogous to the quest for certainty, and both should be abandoned