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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, 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.

Karl Popper

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Karl Popper
Age: 92 †
Born: 1902
Born: July 28
Died: 1994
Died: September 17
Philosopher
Philosopher Of Science
Sociologist
University Teacher
Writer
Vienna
Austria
Karl Raimund Popper Sir
Karl Raimund
Sir Popper
Sir Karl Raimund Popper
Right
Destroyed
Tolerant
Must
Claims
Extend
Even
Prepared
Intolerance
Lead
Unlimited
Therefore
Tolerate
Name
Defend
Names
Tolerance
Intolerant
Society
Claim
Disappearance

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While differing widely in the various little bits we know, in our infinite ignorance we are all equal.
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A system is empirical or scientific only if it is capable of being tested by experience. These considerations suggest that not the verifiability but the falsifiability of a system is to be taken as a criterion of demarcation... It must be possible for an empirical or scientific system to be refuted by experience.
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The war of ideas is a Greek invention. It is one of the most important inventions ever made. Indeed, the possibility of fighting with with words and ideas instead of fighting with swords is the very basis of our civilization, and especially of all its legal and parliamentary institutions.
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Now this principle of induction cannot be a purely logical truth like a tautology or an analytic statement. . . .
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It is not intuitive ease I am after, but rather a point of view which is sufficiently definite to clear up some difficulties, and to be criticized in rational terms. (Bohr's complementarity cannot be so criticized, I fear it can only be accepted or denounced - perhaps as being ad hoc, or as being irrational, or as being hopelessly vague.)
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We do not know. We can only guess.
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We must plan for freedom, and not only for security, if for no other reason than only freedom can make security more secure.
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no matter how many instances of white swans we may have observed, this does not justify the conclusion that all swans are white.
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It is part of my thesis that all our knowledge grows only through the correcting of our mistakes.
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The future is always present, as a promise, a lure and a temptation.
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Those who promise us paradise on earth never produced anything but a hell.
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The game of science is, in principle, without end. He who decides one day that scientific statements do not call for any further test, and that they can be regarded as finally verified, retires from the game.
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The history of science is everywhere speculative. It is a marvelous hiatory. It makes you proud to be a human being.
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The genuine rationalist does not think that he or anyone else is in possession of the truth nor does he think that mere criticism as such helps us achieve new ideas. But he does think that, in the sphere of ideas, only critical discussion can help us sort the wheat from the chaff.
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We have the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should tolerate even them whenever we can do so without running a great risk but the risk may become so great that we cannot allow ourselves the luxury.
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. . . it seems to me certain that more people are killed out of righteous stupidity than out of wickedness.
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With regards to political enemies Plato had a kill-and-banish principle. ... In interpreting it , modern-day Platonists are clearly disturbed by it, even as they make elaborate attempts to defend Plato.
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My thesis is that what we call 'science' is differentiated from the older myths not by being something distinct from a myth, but by being accompanied by a second-order tradition-that of critically discussing the myth. ... In a certain sense, science is myth-making just as religion is.
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If you know that things are bound to happen whatever you do, then you may feel free to give up the fight against them.
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What really makes science grow is new ideas, including false ideas.
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