The Popperian Podcast #22 – Elyse Hargreaves – ‘The Open Society and Its Enemies, and Happiness’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Elyse Hargreaves. They speak about chapter 10 of Karl Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies, the nature and often well-meaning origins of totalitarianism, the fall of Athens to Sparta, the betrayal of Socrates and Athenian democracy by Plato and the oligarchical class, and the one factor that Popper had neglected until then in his analysis – happiness, specifically the tyrannical dangers of trying to make people happy.

Elyse Hargreaves is an ardent student of Popper, passionate about advancing the cause of the open society; for freedom, rationality and humanitarianism. Upon finding Popper in her early 20’s, she has since been determined to popularise his ideas in whatever medium she can. Since then, she has released a free audiobook version of Popper’s Conjectures and Refutations on YouTube which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtUn6tOI13ZF4iEhzYM0Dvg and has recently released an audiobook version of Rafe Champion’s Guide to the Open Society and Its Enemies which you can find on Audible here: https://www.audible.com/pd/A-Guide-to-the-Open-Society-and-Its-Enemies-Audiobook/B0BF2MZ4FJ?qid= 

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The Popperian Podcast #21 – James Kierstead – ‘The Paradox of Tolerance’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with James Kierstead. From The Open Society and Its Enemies, later essays, and private letters, they speak about the meaning behind Karl Popper’s ‘paradox of tolerance’: “Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them…We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.”

James Kierstead is a Senior Lecturer in Classics at Victoria University and a Research Fellow at the New Zealand Initiative. Together with Michael Johnston he co-hosts Free Kiwis!, a podcast dedicated to issues to do with freedom and free speech in a New Zealand context. He tweets @Kleisthenes2

*** The Limits of Toleration The Limits of Toleration - Open Inquiry

*** Free Kiwis! (James Kierstead - YouTube).

*** You can follow James Kierstead’s ongoing work at: James Kierstead | Victoria University of Wellington - Academia.edu and James Kierstead Profile | Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington (wgtn.ac.nz)

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The Popperian Podcast #20 – Susan Blackmore – ‘Memes - Rational, Irrational, Anti-Rational’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Susan Blackmore. They speak about her book The Meme Machine, and David Deutsch’s anti-rational meme hypothesis from his book The Beginning of Infinity.

Susan Blackmore is a psychologist, lecturer and writer researching consciousness, memes, and anomalous experiences, as well as a Visiting Professor at the University of Plymouth. Her full resume and publications can be found at Home - Dr Susan Blackmore

*** The Meme Machine The Meme Machine : Susan Blackmore : 9780192862129 (bookdepository.com)

*** The Beginning of Infinity The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform The World : David Deutsch : 9780140278163 (bookdepository.com)

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The Popperian Podcast #19 – Joseph Agassi – ‘Rules of the Game’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Joseph Agassi. They speak about the place for argument and debate, how criticism should and should not look, why so much of this energy is futile and why we have such high hopes for debate/argument/criticism regardless, as well as wonderful asides such as lessons in how to brainwash people and how to avoid being a victim of it.

Joseph Agassi is Emeritus Professor at Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, and York University, Toronto. He studied under Karl Popper at the London School of Economics and has authored over twenty books and 600 articles. His full resume and publications can be found at Prof. Joseph Agassi (tau.ac.il)

*** Joseph Agassi’s books can be found at: Books by Joseph Agassi | Book Depository

*** The Popperian Podcast #18 – Joseph Agassi – ‘Karl Popper’s Hopeful Monsters’ The Popperian Podcast: The Popperian Podcast #18 – Joseph Agassi – ‘Karl Popper’s Hopeful Monsters’ (libsyn.com)

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The Popperian Podcast #18 – Joseph Agassi – ‘Karl Popper’s Hopeful Monsters’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Joseph Agassi. They speak about Joseph’s background as a student of Karl Popper, his life and his philosophy, his interactions with people such as Imre Lakatos, Paul Feyerabend, John Watkins, and Thomas Kuhn, and most importantly Joseph’s criticisms of various aspects of their philosophy.

Joseph Agassi is Emeritus Professor at Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, and York University, Toronto. He studied under Karl Popper at the London School of Economics and has authored over twenty books and 600 articles. His full resume and publications can be found at Prof. Joseph Agassi (tau.ac.il)

*** The book we primarily speak about in this interview is The Gentle Art of Philosophical Polemics. Along with Joseph’s other books it can be found at Books by Joseph Agassi | Book Depository

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The Popperian Podcast #17 – Rafe Champion – ‘Karl Popper’s Social Turn’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Rafe Champion. They speak about the social (institutional) theme within Karl Popper’s philosophy of science as well as his approach to politics. Popper argued that objectivity in science does not come from the impartiality of scientists, but rather from the social/institutional aspect of the scientific method. This is a theme that has been largely overlooked by Popper scholars (and even by Popper himself), but which was brought to life by the later scholarship of Ian Jarvie and Gordon Tullock.

Rafe Champion grew up on a dairy farm in the far northwest of Tasmania and studied Agricultural Science at the University of Tasmania followed by post-graduate research in Adelaide. He moved into the social sciences in Sydney but did not achieve an academic career and spent most of his professional career in policy, planning and research on health and welfare issues. His main interest after he encountered Popper’s ideas on critical rationalism, objective knowledge & etc. was to explore and explain their implications and applications. His first wife (Kilmeny Niland 1950-2009) was a talented and versatile artist and she created the beautiful Rathouse website to provide a platform for Rafe’s interpretation of the work of Popper, Bartley III, Hayek and others including the great psychologists Karl Buhler and Ian D. Suttie.

*** The Rat House - Karl Popper, Hayek, and Mises' philosophies.Insights by Rafe Champion. (the-rathouse.com)

*** Popper’s Institutional Turn (4) POPPER'S INSTITUTIONAL TURN FINAL | Rafe Champion - Academia.edu

*** Reason and Imagination: Some thoughts of Karl Popper and William W Bartley Reason and Imagination : Rafe Champion : 9781507512111 (bookdepository.com)

*** The Organization of Inquiry by Gordon Tullock Organization of Inquiry : Charles K Rowley : 9780865975330 (bookdepository.com)

*** The Republic of Science by Ian Jarvie The Republic of Science : Ian C. Jarvie : 9789042015159 (bookdepository.com)

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The Popperian Podcast #16 – Michael Ignatieff – ‘Finding Consolation in Truth’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Michael Ignatieff. They speak about Michael’s new book On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times, and the important role that truth plays in consolation.

Between 2006 and 2011, Michael Ignatieff served as an MP in the Parliament of Canada and then as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition. He is a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and holds thirteen honorary degrees. Between 2012 and 2015 he served as Centennial Chair at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs in New York. Between 2014 and 2016 he was Edward R. Murrow Chair of the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Michael Ignatieff was until recently the Rector and President of Central European University in Budapest. He stepped down at the end of July 2021, to stay as a Professor in the History Department.

*** On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times On Consolation : Michael Ignatieff : 9781529053784 (bookdepository.com) and On Consolation : Michael Ignatieff : 9781529053777 (bookdepository.com)

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The Popperian Podcast #15 – Jagdish Hattiangadi – ‘Defending Baconian Induction’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Jagdish Hattiangadi. They speak about the induction of Francis Bacon, why Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn rejected it, how this rejection was based on a misunderstanding/misreading of Bacon, and importantly how this rejection of induction opened a space for “the belittlers of science” to “undermine the social acceptability of scientific research.”

Jagdish Hattiangadi is a Professor of Philosophy at York University, Toronto.

*** Jagdish Hattiangadi’s forthcoming book is tentatively titled: ‘Skeptical Knowledge: The Theory and Craft of Breaking Through in Science’

*** Popper and Kuhn: A Different Retrospect Popper and Kuhn: A Different Retrospect - Jagdish Hattiangadi, 2021 (sagepub.com)

*** Jagdish Hattiangadi’s academic profiles Jagdish Hattiangadi (yorku.ca) and Jagdish Hattiangadi - Academia.edu

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The Popperian Podcast #14 – Anthony O'Hear – ‘Whiffs of Induction’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Anthony O'Hear. They speak about Anthony’s book ‘Karl Popper: The Arguments of the Philosophers’, and its central claim that: “Popper’s attempt to dispense with induction is unsuccessful. We have found that inductive reasoning, removed from one part of the picture, crops up in another.”

*Induction (definition): “the doctrine of the primacy of repetitions” – Karl Popper

Anthony O'Hear is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Buckingham, the former Head of the Department of Education, and the former Honorary Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy. Anthony has served as a special adviser to the British government, was prominent and influential during the Prime Ministerships of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and in 2018 was awarded an OBE.

*** You can find Anthony’s books on Karl Popper, the philosophy of science, and much more at: Results for anthony o'hear | Book Depository

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The Popperian Podcast #13 – Ken Gemes – ‘Karl Popper vs. Friedrich Nietzsche’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Ken Gemes. They speak about the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, how that philosophy intersects and diverges with the philosophy of Karl Popper, what both men got right and what they got wrong, how the philosophies and legacies of both men will continue into the future, as well as looking into Ken’s own thoughts on the philosophy of science.  

Ken Gemes is a Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London. His primary interests are Friedrich Nietzsche and the philosophy of science. Ken earned his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in 1990 with a dissertation in the philosophy of science working with Clark Glymour and Wesley Salmon. He taught at Yale University for ten years before moving to Birkbeck in 2000. Ken is also the editor (with Simon May) of Nietzsche on Freedom and Autonomy and (with John Richardson) of The Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche.

*** You can access the articles spoken about in this interview at: Ken Gemes | Birkbeck College, University of London - Academia.edu

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The Popperian Podcast #12 – Jonathan Rauch – ‘The Constitution of Knowledge’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Jonathan Rauch. They speak about Jonathan’s books Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought and The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, the Popperian influence within them both, where (and how) the message of Karl Popper remains resonant and important today for the societies we live in, how Popperian epistemology can and should be stretched into the social sciences and humanities, the problem of institutional arrangements and how Popper overlooked this aspect of knowledge creation, and importantly how we can build on this (through Madisonian epistemology) to create a more robust system of turning disagreement into truth – The Constitution of Knowledge. 

Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, is the author of eight books and many articles on public policy, culture, and government. He is a contributing writer for The Atlantic and recipient of the 2005 National Magazine Award, the magazine industry’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. His latest book, published in 2021 by the Brookings Press, is The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, a spirited and deep-diving account of how to push back against disinformation, cancelling, and other new threats to our fact-based epistemic order.

*** The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth The Constitution of Knowledge : Jonathan Rauch : 9780815738862 (bookdepository.com)

*** Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought, Expanded Edition Kindly Inquisitors : Jonathan Rauch : 9780226145938 (bookdepository.com)

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The Popperian Podcast #11 – David Edmonds – ‘Wittgenstein's Poker’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with David Edmonds. They speak about David’s book Wittgenstein's Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers. Blurb: “On October 25, 1946, in a crowded room in Cambridge, England, the great twentieth-century philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper came face to face for the first and only time. The meeting -- which lasted ten minutes -- did not go well. Their loud and aggressive confrontation became the stuff of instant legend, but precisely what happened during that brief confrontation remained for decades the subject of intense disagreement.”

David Edmonds is a multi-award winning presenter/producer at the BBC and the host of The Big Idea. He is the author of many books, including Would You Kill the Fat Man? and (with John Eidinow) the international best-seller Wittgenstein’s Poker.  His latest book (co-written with Hugh Fraser), is a children’s book Undercover Robot. He’s a Distinguished Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and a columnist for the Jewish Chronicle. With Nigel Warburton he produces the popular podcast series Philosophy Bites which has had over 40 million downloads.  He also runs Philososphy247 and presents Social Science Bites.

*** Wittgenstein's Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers Wittgenstein's Poker : David Edmonds : 9780571227358 (bookdepository.com)

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The Popperian Podcast #10 – Richard Landes – ‘Deutsch's Theory of the Pattern - The Widespread Compulsion to Legitimise Hurting Jews’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Richard Landes. They speak about the history of antisemitism, its unique characteristics and intensity throughout centuries and millennia, the strange ability of ordinary people to uncritically accept nearly any claim against the Jews (no matter how farfetched it is), the lethal narratives that are told about the Jews and how they are consistently used as a projection for the moral failings of their enemies, and importantly how all this hatred is best explained by The Pattern which David Deutsch describes in his upcoming book as the need to preserve the legitimacy of hurting Jews… simply for being Jews.

Professor Richard Landes was trained as a medievalist at Princeton University (MA 1979, PhD 1984). His work focused on apocalyptic beliefs and millennial movements (Heaven on Earth, 2011), initially around the year 1000 (Peace of God, 1986; Relics, Apocalypse and the Deceits of History, 1996; Apocalyptic Year 1000, 2003). He has increasingly focused on contemporary movements (Paranoid Apocalypse, 2006), and especially Global Jihad. He made a series of documentaries in 2005/6 titled “According to Palestinian Sources…,” which document the extensive staging of footage (Pallywood), the staging of the Al Durah footage (Making of an Icon), and the impact of that fake, broadcast as “news” by Western news media (Icon of Hatred). In 2015, Richard retired from Boston University where he was a Professor in the History Department, and now resides in Jerusalem.

You can follow Richard at: Richard Landes (@richard_landes) / Twitter

And keep up to date with his blog at: Augean Stables | "Always be ready to speak your mind and a base man will avoid you." (William Blake, 1796) (theaugeanstables.com)

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The Popperian Podcast #9 – Jeremy Shearmur – ‘Karl Popper, Friedrich Hayek and the Future of Liberalism’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Jeremy Shearmur. They speak about the time that Jeremy spent working with Karl Popper at the London School of Economics, the seeds of classical liberalism within Popper’s epistemology, the role for free markets as constant feedback mechanisms for the consent of people, the failure of politics to achieve this level of responsiveness, how Friedrich Hayek’s views differ from Popper’s and where Popper was influenced by Hayek, the problems/challenges that face classical liberalism, and the future direction of classical liberalism.

Jeremy Shearmur was educated at the London School of Economics, where he also worked as Popper’s assistant.  He subsequently taught philosophy at Edinburgh, political theory at Manchester, and was Director of Studies at the Centre for Policy Studies in London. He then worked as a Research Associate Professor at the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University, and subsequently taught political theory and then philosophy at the Australian National University. He is now retired from the ANU as an Emeritus Fellow and is living in Dumfries in Scotland, where he is still very much engaged in academic work.  He is the author of ‘Hayek and After’ and ‘The Political Thought of Karl Popper’, and for anyone interested in his ongoing lecture series on Karl Popper and critical rationalism, Jeremy can be reached at: jeremy.shearmur@fallowfield.info

For enquiries not related to the lecture series or upcoming conferences, please instead use: Jeremy.Shearmur@anu.edu.au

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The Popperian Podcast #8 – James Kierstead – ‘New Zealand and the Authoritarianism of Plato’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with James Kierstead. They speak about Karl Popper’s work The Open Society and Its Enemies, the years that Popper spent in New Zealand writing this book, what Popper thought about his adopted country, Popper’s attack on Plato for his “unmitigated authoritarianism”, how valid this attack was, the controversy surrounding the book and how we should examine it today in light of new scholarship, and the importance of freedom of speech and freedom of expression for the Open Society.

James Kierstead was born into a Canadian army family and grew up in Canada, Germany, and England. He got the chance to learn Greek and Latin at Sherborne School in Dorset after winning a scholarship and subsequently studied classics (Literae Humaniores) at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and ancient history at King's College London. After that, James moved to California, where he studied political theory and wrote a PhD thesis on Athenian democracy under Professor Josiah Ober. Since coming to Wellington in 2013 he has continued to research and teach in the field of ancient Greek democracy, and he also oversees the Victoria Ancient Theatre Society (VATS), which produces an ancient play every year. James also spent a little time in Athens over the years; in 2016 he was an Early Career Fellow at the British School at Athens, and also spent time at the American School and the German and Canadian Institutes, as well as volunteering with the Agora Excavations and Museum.

*** Karl Popper's Open Society and its Enemies, and its Enemies ((PDF) Karl Popper's Open Society and its Enemies, and its Enemies | James Kierstead - Academia.edu).

*** Free Kiwis! (James Kierstead - YouTube).

*** You can follow James Kierstead’s ongoing work at: James Kierstead | Victoria University of Wellington - Academia.edu and James Kierstead Profile | Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington (wgtn.ac.nz)

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The Popperian Podcast #7 – Oseni Taiwo Afisi – ‘Karl Popper and Africa’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Oseni Taiwo Afisi. They speak about Karl Popper’s book The Open Society and Its Enemies, the ideas and history behind the work, the place for the Open Society and Popper’s epistemology within the African context, how the communalism and collectivism in traditional Africa does not make it analogous to the repressive and totalitarian societies that Popper argued against, the difficult line between group rights and individual rights, the question of tribalism and Africa’s development, Popper’s concept of piecemeal social engineering in the African milieu, and the challenges of multiculturalism and heterogeneity to the Open Society in postcolonial Africa.

Oseni Taiwo Afisi is the current Head of the Department of Philosophy, Lagos State University, Nigeria. His areas of competence include critical thinking, logic, political philosophy and Philosophy of science with a special interest in Karl Popper’s critical rationalism. He received his Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Philosophy from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and later proceeded to the University of Canterbury, New Zealand where he wrote his thesis on Karl Popper’s Critical Rationalism and the Politics of Liberal-Communitarianism, and obtained a PhD. degree in philosophy. He was a visiting academic to the Australian National University in 2011.

*** Karl Popper and Africa: Knowledge, Politics and Development (Karl Popper and Africa: Knowledge, Politics and Development : Oseni Taiwo Afisi : 9783030742133 (bookdepository.com)).

*** You can follow Oseni Taiwo Afisi’s ongoing work at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Oseni-Taiwo-Afisi

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The Popperian Podcast #6 – Steve Fuller – ‘Karl Popper vs. Thomas Kuhn’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Steve Fuller. They speak about Steve’s book Kuhn Vs. Popper: The Struggle for the Soul of Science, how Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn each regarded the scientific method, the differences between these two conceptions, the significance of the arguments involved and how they defined both science and public opinion (and continue to do so), the history of science and how it should be understood, the moral implications and responsibilities associated with each man’s theory, how the disagreement played out over time, and what happened at the infamous 1965 Popper-Kuhn debate at Bedford College, University of London.  

Steve Fuller holds the Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology in the Department of Sociology at the University of Warwick. He is the founder of the research program of social epistemology, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the UK Academy of Social Sciences, and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Breakthrough Institute, the leading ‘ecomodernist’ think-tank, and an Affiliate Scholar at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, the leading ‘transhumanist’ think-tank. Steve is the author of twenty-five books, which have been translated into more than twenty languages.

*** Kuhn Vs. Popper: The Struggle for the Soul of Science (Results for Kuhn Vs.Popper: The Struggle for the Soul of Science | Book Depository).

*** You can follow Steve Fuller’s ongoing work at: Steve Fuller (warwick.ac.uk) and Steve Fuller | University of Warwick - Academia.edu.

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The Popperian Podcast #5 – Maarten Boudry – ‘Diagnosing Pseudoscience - Why the Demarcation Problem Matters’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Maarten Boudry. They speak about how we distinguish between science and pseudoscience (otherwise known as the demarcation problem), Karl Popper’s famous solution involving falsifiability, why the demarcation problem persists and remains a live issue and how Popper’s solution might be inadequate, Maarten’s alternative solution that naturalises the problem and focusses on what pseudosciences have in common and how they operate, the epistemology of conspiracy theories, the limits of science and what constitutes scientism, the interesting question of when is it rational to accept falsehoods, and why the demarcation problem still matters today.

Maarten Boudry is a postdoctoral fellow of the Flemish Fund for Scientific Research (FWO) and current holder of the 'Etienne Vermeersch Chair' at Ghent University. In 2011, he defended his dissertation on pseudoscience, Here Be Dragons. Exploring the Hinterland of Science. He is the author of more than 40 academic papers, published in journals such as Philosophy of Science, Philosophia, Quarterly Review of Biology, Science & Education and Biology & Philosophy. Together with Massimo Pigliucci, he edited two academic volumes: Science Unlimited? On the Challenges of Scientism (2018) and Philosophy of Pseudoscience. Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem (2013). His research interests include atheism and naturalism, evolutionary epistemology, beneficial misbeliefs, reasoning fallacies, and the conflict between science and religion. He is also the author of four popular books on science and philosophy (in Dutch).

*** You can follow Maarten Boudry’s academic work, and find the articles mentioned in this podcast, at Maarten Boudry | Ghent University - Academia.edu and Maarten Boudry – Filosoof en auteur and Dr. Maarten Boudry | Faculty of Arts and Philosophy - Research Portal (ugent.be).

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The Popperian Podcast #4 – Robin Attfield – ‘Pre-echoes of Popper - Xenophanes and Parmenides’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Robin Attfield. They speak about the life and work of the pre-Socratic philosophers Xenophanes and Parmenides, how Xenophanes in particular has been unjustly disparaged and misunderstood over the years, how Karl Popper rehabilitated Xenophanes’ image and his philosophy, the place of both Xenophanes and Parmenides as earlier exponents of Popper’s critical rationalism and falsificationism, the method used by Popper to interpret Herodotus in support of his conjectures about Xenophanes, whether it is possible to consider Xenophanes and Parmenides as ‘Popperian’, and whether Popper’s own study of Xenophanes is strictly ‘Popperian’.

Robin Attfield is Professor Emeritus at Cardiff University where he taught philosophy from 1968. He is the author of 'Environmental Ethics: A Very Short Introduction' (Environmental Ethics: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions): Attfield, Robin: 9780198797166: Amazon.com: Books), ‘Environmental thought: A Short History’ (Amazon.com: Environmental Thought: A Short History (9781509536665): Attfield, Robin: Books), ‘The Ethics of the Global Environment’ (The Ethics of the Global Environment (Edinburgh Studies in Global Ethics): Attfield, Robin: 9780748654819: Amazon.com: Books), ‘Wonder, Value and God’ (Amazon.com: Wonder, Value and God (9781138388161): Attfield, Robin: Books), and 'Ethics: An Overview' (Amazon.com: Ethics: An Overview (9781441182050): Attfield, Robin: Books).

Pertinent to this podcast Robin is also the author of: ‘Popper and Xenophanes’ ((PDF) Popper and Xenophanes (researchgate.net)) and ‘Popper's Parmenides’’ ((PDF) Popper's Parmenides (researchgate.net)).

You can follow Robin Attfield’s academic work on Research Gate at: (Robin ATTFIELD | Professor Emeritus | DLitt | Cardiff University, Cardiff | CU | Cardiff University Research Institute for Sustainable Places (researchgate.net)).

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The Popperian Podcast #3 – Nicholas Maxwell – ‘More Popperian than Popper’

This episode of the Popperian Podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Nicholas Maxwell. They speak about Karl Popper’s scientific method, what Maxwell’s disagreements with Popper are, the difference between bare and dressed falsificationism, the problems presented by the apparent unity of knowledge and the preference within science for unified theories, as opposed to infinitely more available dis-unified ad hoc theories, the place for metaphysical assumptions within the testable framework of science, and importantly what is Maxwell’s theory of Aim-Oriented Empiricism and how it represents an improvement on Popper’s falsificationism.

Nicholas Maxwell is an emeritus reader in philosophy of science at University College London, where he previous taught philosophy of science for nearly thirty years. He is the author of What’s Wrong With Science? (Bran's Head Books, 1976), From Knowledge to Wisdom (Blackwell, 1984), The Comprehensibility of the Universe (OUP, 1998), Is Science Neurotic? (World Scientific, 2004), Cutting God in Half – And Putting the Pieces Together Again: A New Approach to Philosophy (2010), How Universities Can Help Create a Wiser World: The Urgent Need for an Academic Revolution (Imprint Academic, 2014), Global Philosophy (2014), In Praise of Natural Philosophy: A Revolution for Thought and Life (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2017), Understanding Scientific Progress: Aim-Oriented Empiricism (Paragon House, 2017), Karl Popper, Science and Enlightenment (UCL Press, 2017), Science and Enlightenment: Two Great Problems of Learning (Springer, 2019), The Metaphysics of Science and Aim-Oriented Empiricism: A Revolution for Science and Philosophy (Synthese Library, Springer, 2019), Our Fundamental Problem: A Revolutionary Approach to Philosophy (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020), The World Crisis - And What To Do About It (World Scientific, Spring 2021) (all available at: https://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Maxwell/e/B001HPF2LO/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1 and Results for nicholas maxwell | Book Depository).

*** Nicholas Maxwell’s academic profile (About Me | From Knowledge to Wisdom - UCL – University College London).

Maxwell.png

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