Emancipation Through Knowledge

Emancipation through knowledge-Karl Popper's conception of the EnlightenmentHow does Karl Popper understand the Enlightenment? This is the main question that I want to answer in this thesis. For Popper, the central idea of the Enlightenment is "emancipation through knowledge". The idea originates in Bacon. In Bacon, it is connected with the process of secularization of science. For Popper, it is mainly an emancipation of intellectual life rather than an emancipation in terms of material life as conceived by Bacon. One of the main features of Popper's understanding of the Enlightenment is that he interprets emancip ation in terms of reason and knowledge. His characterization of reason and knawledge makes his understanding of emancipation distinctive. For philosophers in the Enlightenment, knowledge is a universal, necessary, absolute and complete description of the world. Man can promote the development of society and the advancement of history by means of knowledge. Reason is the final arbiter of world affairs. For Popper, however, knowledge is not universal, necessary, absolute and complete. It is conjectural in nature. Human reason has its limit. Of counse, Popper admits that we can improve our situation by using knowledge, but he oppose s the control and conquest of nature.In contemporary western society, postmodernism is in vogue. Postmodern thinkers are opposed to the basic values of the Enlightenment, such as rationalism, truth, progress, emancipation of mankind, etc. They are critical of the conception of reason and knowledge of the Enlightenment. For them, there is no objective truth. Knowledge is subjective and relative. Popper is in agreement with postmodernists in that he also views knowledge as relative and advocates diversity and opposes absoluteness, collectivity, identity, essence and progress, etc. But Popper diverges from postmodern thinkers in that he admits the existence of the external world and theobjective foundation of knowledge and believes that we can attain objective truth. Although Popper is critical of the conception of knowledge and reason of the Enlightenment, he does not deny knowledge and reason as such. He claims that he is a follower of the Enlightenment. He is a ratior alist. He insists on the basic values of the Enlightenment.