Karl Popper · Philosophy
Popper’s refutation of ‘historicism’ - the belief that history obeys discoverable laws that let us prophesy its future course. He argues that because the course of history depends on the growth of knowledge, and we cannot predict today what we will only learn tomorrow, the future of history cannot be scientifically foretold - and the prophets who claim otherwise leave a trail of ruin.
You learned that Popper defined ‘historicism’ as the doctrine that history has predictable laws or trends, and refuted it with a logical argument: the growth of knowledge shapes history, but future knowledge cannot be predicted now, so the future course of history cannot be predicted either. Explain the ar…
Leads to Karl Marx.
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