Popper, Otto Selz and the Rise Of Evolutionary Epistemology

This book is about Karl Popper’s early writings before he began his career as a philosopher. The purpose of the book is to demonstrate that Popper’s philosophy of science, with its emphasis on the method of trial and error, is largely based on the psychology of Otto Selz, whose theory of problem solving and scientific discovery laid the foundation for much of contemporary cognitive psychology. By arguing that Popper’s famous defence of the method of falsification as well as his elaboration of an evolutionary theory of knowledge are equally indebted to German psychology, Michel ter Hark challenges the received view of the development of Popper’s philosophy. The book concludes with a reinterpretation of Popper’s theory of the mind-body problem, emphasizing its contemporary relevance.

• There is a great deal of interest in Karl Popper, in philosophy and across the social sciences • Traces the roots of Popper’s philosophical methodology

List of illustrations; Preface; 1. Tracing the genesis of an idea; 2. Psychology of thinking, evolutionary theory and psychoanalysis; 3. Popper and the foundations of pedagogy; 4. Otto Selz and the science of problem solving; 5. Popper’s psychology of knowledge; 6. Evolutionary epistemology and the mind-body problem; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

‘It will be essential reading for scholars in the history of psychology, the history of philosophy, Popper studies and the philosophy of the social sciences.’  – Ian Jarvie, York University, Toronto

\'… a major contribution …\' – Learning for Democracy