Change Quote by Karl R. Popper

““According to this conception, the ultimate causes of all social changes and political revolutions are not increasing insight into justice; they are to be sought not in the philosophy but in the economics of the epoch concerned. The growing realization that existing social institutions are irrational and unjust is only a symptom …’ It is the theory of which a modern Marxist says: ‘In founding socialist aspirations on a rational economic law of social development, instead of justifying them on moral grounds, Marx and Engels proclaimed socialism a historical necessity.””

Karl R. Popper

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.1 out of 5 (9 ratings)

Change Economics Justice Philosophy Politics Social development Wisdom

More by Karl R. Popper

“Most of us, it seems, have a strong inclination to accept the peculiarities of our social environment as if they were ‘natural’.”

Karl R. Popper

Image

“The empirical basis of objective science has thus nothing ‘absolute’ about it.4 Science does not rest upon solid bedrock. The bold structure of its theories rises, as it were, above a swamp. It is like a building erected on piles. The piles are driven down from above into the swamp, but not down to any natural or ‘given’ base; and…

Karl R. Popper

“Should you ever intend to dull the wits of a young man and to incapacitate his brains for any kind of thought whatever, then you cannot do better than give him Hegel to read. For these monstrous accumulations of words that annul and contradict one another drive the mind into tormenting itself with vain attempts to think anything whatever in…

Karl R. Popper

“Historically, all ethics undoubtedly begin with religion; but I do not now deal with historical questions. I do not ask who was the first lawgiver. I only maintain that it is we, and we alone, who are responsible for adopting or rejecting some suggested moral laws; it is we who must distinguish between the true prophets and the false prophets.…

Karl R. Popper

“Society and the individual are thus interdependent. The one owes its existence to the other. Society owes its existence to human nature, and especially…

Karl R. Popper

Image

“All political ideals, that of making the people happy is perhaps the most dangerous one. It leads invariably to the attempt to impose our scale of ‘higher’ values upon others, in order to make them realize what seems to us of greatest importance for their happiness; in order, as it were, to save their souls. It leads to Utopianism and…

Karl R. Popper

“There is only one further use of violence in political quarrels which I should consider justified. I mean the resistance, once democracy has been attained, to any attack (whether from within or without the state) against the democratic constitution and the use of democratic methods. Any such attack, especially if it comes from the government in power, or if it…

Karl R. Popper

“The fascist appeal to ‘human nature’ is to our passions, to our collectivist mystical needs, to ‘man the unknown’. Adopting Hegel’s words just quoted, this appeal may be called the cunning of the revolt against reason. But the height of this cunning is reached by Hegel in this boldest dialectical twist of his. While paying lip-service to rationalism, while talking…

Karl R. Popper

“Instead of the greatest happiness for the greatest number, one should demand, more modestly, the least amount of avoidable suffering for all; and further,…

Karl R. Popper

Image

“(a) Nationalism, in the form of the historicist idea that the state is the incarnation of the Spirit (or now, of the Blood) of the state-creating nation (or race); one chosen nation (now, the chosen race) is destined for world domination. (b) The state as the natural enemy of all other states must assert its existence in war. (c) The…

Karl R. Popper

“We all remember how many religious wars were fought for a religion of love and gentleness; how many bodies were burned alive with the genuinely kind intention of saving souls from the eternal fire of hell. Only if we give up our authoritarian attitude in the realm of opinion, only if we establish the attitude of give and take, of…

Karl R. Popper

“What we should do, I suggest, is to give up the idea of ultimate sources of knowledge, and admit that all knowledge is human; that it is mixed with our errors, our prejudices, our dreams, and our hopes; that all we can do is to grope for truth even though it be beyond our reach. We may admit that our…

Karl R. Popper

Explore all 52 Karl R. Popper quotes

More Change quotes

Only within yourself exists the other reality for which you long. I can give you nothing that has not already its being within yourself.…

Hermann Hesse

Image

Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.

Anonymous

Image

I can't believe that I'm sitting in meetings with Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Annette Bening. I want to take on that responsibility to…

Roger Ross Williams

Image

“…progress isn't necessarily about change but about things turning out as we want them to”

Phil Hogan

Image

Nobody can tell me that no changes are necessary in Washington.

William Weld

Image

If my campaign is not in the debate, we will not be talking about how we really fix this problem of endless and expanding war, why we need to cut the military budget by 50%, why we need to bring back our troops scattered overseas, the police force of the world, in over a hundred countries, something like eight hundred…

Jill Stein

Your world will change whether or not you choose to change, but you have the power to choose it's direction.

Napoleon Hill

Image

I hope I continue to evolve.

Charlotte Flair

Image

“Stay focused on bringing people together and more on positive messaging so that you can be the change you wish to see in the…

Germany Kent

Image

The biggest change for me as a mom was realizing I needed to put someone else before me. Now the hardest part about the empty nest is learning to put myself first. I know that I have raised my sons to be big, strong, independent men who love God, themselves and care for others. I have to learn to let…

Kim Alexis