"TO GET NEARER TO A TRUE VIEW OF THE WORLD": FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF POPPER’S LOGIC OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY
POPPER, Karl R. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. London: Hutchinson of London, (1959). Octavo, original gray cloth, original dust jacket.
First edition in English of Popper's important work on his theory of empirical falsification, arguing scientific theories are by nature abstract and can only be tested indirectly through their implications.
First published as Logik der Forschung in 1934, this book was translated into English and substantially revised by the author himself 25 years later. Here Popper, one of the 20th century's greatest philosophers of science, argues for a methodology of falsification. Through his account of a logical asymmetry between verification and falsifiability, he asserts that, as no scientific theory can ever be verified as true, the best course is to attempt to prove theories false. The ideas presented here led to two of Popper's most important philosophical works: The Poverty of Historicism and Open Society and Its Enemies. "For Karl Popper, philosophy is an attempt to get nearer to a true view of the world, that is, a view that corresponds to the facts" (New York Review of Books). Bookseller ticket.
Book fine; lightest edge-wear, faint toning to scarce near-fine dust jacket.