Popper

Geoff Stokes is Reader in the Department of Government at the University of Queensland, Australia.

• Abbreviations. Preface.1. Introduction: Politics, Epistemology and Methodology.2. Popper's Project: Problem and Method.3. Methodological Falsificationism and its Critics.4. The Politics of Critical Rationalism.5. Philosophy and Methodology of Social Science.6. Metaphysics and Freedom.7. Evolutionary Epistemology.8. Critical Rationalism and Critical Theory.Conclusion.Notes.References.Index.

'In this masterful study, Geoffrey Stokes provides a comprehensive analysis of the interweaving of political commitments, epistemology and scientific method in the whole range of Popper's writings. By this means he offers us a careful account of the evolving structure of Popper's complex "system of ideas". In addition, Stokes points out the many reformulations as well as latent disjunctions in Popper's heroic efforts to integrate a philosophy of freedom and scientific enquiry. Another benefit of Stokes's book is a long-overdue examination of the differences and similarities in Popper's methodologies of social and natural science. At the same time, the study contains a useful overview of the clash between Popper's critical rationalism and Habermasian "critical theory".' Professor Toby E. Huff, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth 'One of the few books to cover the debate between Popper and the Frankfurt School.' The Times Higher Education Supplement 'Geoffrey Stokes has written a thought-provoking book...it is a valuable contribution to the literature on Popper's philosophy.' Jeffrey Ketland, University of Nottingham, British Journal of Philosophy 'The reader is given a lucid account of Popper's evolving system of ideas, succinctly situating each development in its historical and intellectual context, and concluding each section with an appraisal of Popper's contribution ... [Stokes's] book is a fine contribution to that wider goal, and a lucid and balanced assessment of Popper's philosophical achievements.' Thesis Eleven