Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge.

POPPER, Karl R.

$9,200.00

Item Number: 77942

New York: Basic Books, 1962.

First edition of this major work by Popper. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Rudi greatest of pianists and for me the only one with love from Karl March 28th, 1963.” The recipient, Rudolf Serkin, is widely regarded as one of the greatest Beethoven interpreters of the 20th century and was a lifelong friend of Popper’s. Popper and Serkin met in Salzkammergut, Austria in 1919 and their friendship lasted until Serkin’s death in 1991. In 1934, Serkin asked his mother-in-law, Frieda Busch, to bring Popper’s Logik der Forschung (The Logic of Scientific Discovery as it first appeared in German) to the attention of Albert Einstein as the young author did not have an academic position and needed assistance in gaining attention in the scientific community. Einstein responded warmly upon receipt of the book and endorsed the philosophy on all of its essential points. His endorsement created a stir in Vienna and beyond and the book soon received praise from other giants in the field including Rudolf Carnap, Oskar Morgenstern, and Freidrich Hayek. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional association.

Conjectures and Refutations is one of Karl Popper's most wide-ranging and popular works, notable not only for its acute insight into the way scientific knowledge grows, but also for applying those insights to politics and to history. It provides one of the clearest and most accessible statements of the fundamental idea that guided his work: not only our knowledge, but our aims and our standards, grow through an unending process of trial and error.