Summary Of "The Misery Of Historicism" By Karl Popper: UNIVERSITY SUMMARIES

By MAURICIO ENRIQUE FAU

Popper's basic thesis is that the belief in a historical destiny is pure superstition and that there can be no prediction of the course of human history and scientific methods or any other kind of rational method. The course of human history is influenced by the growth of human knowledge that we cannot predict, so he rejects the possibility of a theoretical history similar to theoretical physics. If there is a growth in human knowledge, we cannot anticipate today what we will know only tomorrow, and there the prediction will be retro-diction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BOOKS AND SUMMARIES BY MAURICIO FAU
• Release date: Nov 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201898519

MAURICIO ENRIQUE FAU

Mauricio Enrique Fau nació en Buenos Aires en 1965. Se recibió de Licenciado en Ciencia Política en la Universidad de Buenos Aires. Cursó también Derecho en la UBA y Periodismo en la Universidad de Morón. Realizó estudios en FLACSO Argentina. Docente de la UBA y AUTOR DE MÁS DE 3.000 RESÚMENES de Psicología, Sociología, Ciencia Política, Antropología, Derecho, Historia, Epistemología, Lógica, Filosofía, Economía, Semiología, Educación y demás disciplinas de las Ciencias Sociales. Desde 2005 dirige La Bisagra Editorial, especializada en técnicas de estudio y materiales que facilitan la transición desde la escuela secundaria a la universidad. Por intermedio de La Bisagra publicó 38 libros. Participa en diversas ferias del libro, entre ellas la Feria Internacional del Libro de Buenos Aires y la FIL Guadalajara.

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Summary Of The Misery Of Historicism By Karl Popper

UNIVERSITY SUMMARIES

MAURICIO ENRIQUE FAU

Published by BOOKS AND SUMMARIES BY MAURICIO FAU, 2021.

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

SUMMARY OF THE MISERY OF HISTORICISM BY KARL POPPER

First edition. November 11, 2021.

Copyright © 2021 MAURICIO ENRIQUE FAU.

ISBN: 979-8201898519

Written by MAURICIO ENRIQUE FAU.

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Title Page

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Popper, Karl | THE MISERY OF HISTORICISM

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Popper, Karl

THE MISERY OF HISTORICISM

His basic thesis is that the belief in a historical destiny is pure superstition and that there can be no prediction of the course of human history and scientific methods or any other kind of rational method. The course of human history is influenced by the growth of human knowledge that we cannot predict, which is why it rejects the possibility of a theoretical history similar to theoretical physics. If there is a growth in human knowledge, we cannot anticipate today what we will know only tomorrow, and there the prediction will be retro-diction.

The unnaturalist doctrines of historicism

They say that the methods of physics cannot be applied to the social sciences. Physical laws are valid in all places and times, but sociological laws differ in different places and times. For this reason, social regularities, dependent on history, differ from the immutable regularities of physics.

Thus, generalization in physics is possible due to the general uniformity of nature  in similar circumstances similar things will happen, this is inapplicable in sociology, since similar circumstances only repeat themselves within a given historical period.

Naturalism denies social changes and accepts the undesirable as inevitable because it is determined by natural laws, but rather the work of human activity  Activism. It is also not applicable in social sciences. The experimental method, therefore, an experiment would have limited importance, in addition, artificial isolation would eliminate the factors that are most important for sociology and, just experimenting, changes the conditions of society, which makes the experience unrepeatable. In social history there is always novelty, in physics nothing is intrinsically new. In addition, sociology has great complexity, since it presupposes psychology and this one to biology and this one to chemistry and this one to physics. That is why social prediction is very difficult, in addition there is a mutual connection between predictions and predicted events  self-fulfilling prophecy or suicidal prediction. For historicism, in social sciences there is no objectivity that we see in physics  social science can help the birth of new periods, as well as delay, in the hands of conservative interests, social changes. Historicism believes in holism, since the social group is more than the mere sum total of its members. The social structure cannot be understood nor its future predicted without a careful study of its history. The focus of physics is causal explanation, quantitative in mathematical formulas, that of sociology, a qualitative understanding of purposes and meaning  intuitive understanding, which takes three variants:

1- A social fact is understood by knowing the purposes of the groups and individuals involved,