Giving Karl Popper His Propers

David Cohen collects the views of international scholars, including Graham Macdonald of the University of Canterbury, to place and demystify one of the university’s most celebrated former lecturers – controversial Austrian philosopher Karl Popper – on the centenery of his birth. The piece makes a refreshing change from tributes by “those who gaze at Popper’s work as if through a messianic mist.” Cohen acknowledges the originality and enduring relevance of Popper’s ideas while reminding us of his difficult personality and academic insecurities.