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Work #1492 · Mid-career

The Poverty of Historicism

Karl Popper
1944-45 (Economica articles); book 1957 · English
Methodological-philosophical treatise · Critical rationalism / philosophy of social science / anti-totalitarianism

Popper's 1944/1957 attack on 'historicist' prophecy — the impossibility of predicting the course of history

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute The Poverty of Historicism (Mid-career)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom NDet
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Curved
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Mediate
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Reason
Observer · Theological Method —
Energy · Extent Finite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Non-conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

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Time

The Poverty of Historicism

1944-45 / 1957 — wartime and post-war anti-totalitarian moment.

✦

Space

The Poverty of Historicism

New Zealand (Canterbury College, wartime) / London (LSE, 1957).

◉

Matter

The Poverty of Historicism

Single methodological-political treatise.

◎

Observer

The Poverty of Historicism

Popper as anti-historicist methodologist.

⚡

Energy

The Poverty of Historicism

Anti-totalitarian methodological energies.

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Information

The Poverty of Historicism

Single short volume.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

The Poverty of Historicism

The methodological companion to The Open Society — Popper's case against the prediction of history.