Karl Popper was a minor philosopher, but a major transmitter of Kantian skepticism into the culture. Posing as an exponent of scientific method, he promoted a philosophy whose key tenets are that induction is a myth, that scientific theories are at root arbitrary constructs, and that the absence of falsification, rather than positive evidence, is the standard for adopting scientific conclusions. These ideas have inspired an onslaught on science in today's academia, with philosophers claiming that scientific facts are products of the social interaction among scientists and that scientific knowledge represents a Western prejudice.

This course covers Popper's basic ideas and identifies their roots in Kant.