David Deutsch: uncertainty

Transcript context

…Why do so many professional philosophers not think so much of Karl Popper? You’ve just asked me why so many people make fundamental mistakes about metaphysics within physics — why do so many physicists talk nonsense about metaphysics, and so on? Now you’re asking me, Why do so many philosophers make mistakes? I’ve heard a variety of theories about this, but I don’t know. I haven’t thought all that much about it. It is definitely the case that philosophy took a really bad turn just over 100 years ago and hasn’t really recovered — professional philosophy, I mean. But say when I read Popper, if I look at the areas I know best that he wrote on, Poverty of Historicism, Open Society & Its Enemies, I find I agree with a very high percentage of his conclusions, so I’m inclined to like him, but I don’t think those are great books. I think he’s too obsessed with rebutting crude Marxism. He’s very bad at steel-manning his opponents. On a lot of the pages, I just don’t find that much insight, even though I’m very sympathetic toward the conclusions. Maybe he’s just not that great a thinker, and that’s why most philosophers don’t fall in love with him.…

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