Unended Quest: an Intellectual Autobiography

Description

At the age of eight, Karl Popper was puzzling over the idea of infinity and by fifteen was beginning to take a keen interest in his father's well-stocked library of books. Unended Quest recounts these moments and many others in the life of one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century, providing an indispensable account of the ideas that influenced him most. As an introduction to Popper's philosophy, Unended Quest also shines. Popper lucidly explains the central ideas in his work, making this book ideal for anyone coming to Popper's life and work for the first time.;Cover -- Unended Quest, An Intellectual Autobiography -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- 1. Omniscience and Fallibility -- 2. Childhood Memories -- 3. Early Influences -- 4. The First World War -- 5. An Early Philosophical Problem: Infinity -- 6. My First Philosophical Failure: the Problem of Essentialism -- 7. A Long Digression Concerning Essentialism: What Still Divides Me from Most Contemporary Philosophers -- 8. A Crucial Year: Marxism -- Science and Pseudoscience -- 9. Early Studies -- 10. A Second Digression: Dogmatic and Critical Thinking -- Learning Without Induction.