Popper's Three Worlds

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Karl Popper introduced his 'three worlds' in 1978 as a way of looking at reality.

Popper distinguishes three worlds:

1. The physical world, which contains non living physical objects, living things and biological objects.

2. The subjective world (mental or psychological world) which is the world of feelings, thoughts, perceptions and observations.

3. The social world, which is the world of products of the human mind, from maths to language, from engineering to art.

The link between world 1 and 2 is in the interaction of the mind and the physical world. This is Poppers alternative to the Cartesian dualism of the Res Cognita and Res existensa.

The interaction between world 2 and 3 is in processes such as learning or the development of scientific theories.

The link between world 1 and 3 can be seen in things like art or engineering which have a physical presence but a social meaning.


Created by Judith Nijenhuis (S3009270)

'References'