Karl Popper Today

Zagreb Popper Forum 2018

November 14, 2018 to November 17, 2018

Organized by:

Karl Popper Foundation

Philosophical Faculty & Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb; Institute of

Philosophy, Zagreb

Jeremy Shearmur, (Emeritus Fellow, School of Philosophy,

Australian National University, Canberra)

Jeremy Shearmur was educated the London School of Economics (University of London),

where he also worked for eight years as assistant to Professor Sir Karl Popper. He taught

philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, Political Theory at the University of Manchester,

was Director of Studies at the Centre for Policy Studies in London and was then a Research

Associate Professor at the Institute for Humane Studies, George Mason University in

Virginia. He then taught Political Theory and subsequently Philosophy at the Australian

National University. He is the author of The Political Thought of Karl Popper and Hayek and

After, and joint editor of H. B. Acton’s The Morals of Markets and related essays, Popper’s After the Open Society, and

The Cambridge Companion to Popper. He has published around 100 articles, contributions to books etc. His edition

of F. A. Hayek’s Law, Legislation and Liberty will appear in Hayek’s Collected Works, while a collection of his papers,

Between Popper and Hayek is to be published in Iran. He was also invited to lecture for The Teaching Company. Several

of his lectures appear in their Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition. His lecture series Ideas in Politics is

now no longer available from The Teaching Company but is widely available on the internet.

David Miller (University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom)

For almost forty years David Miller taught logic, and some other things, at the

University of Warwick. He has been a visiting professor at universities and research

institutes in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, Thailand, and

the USA, and has lectured in many other countries. His publications include Popper

Selections (Princeton 1983; translated into 12 languages), of which he was the editor;

Critical Rationalism: A Restatement & Defence (Open Court 1994); Out of Error (Ashgate

2006; paperback edition, Routledge 2017); and Karl Popper: A Centenary Assessment

(Ashgate 2006; paperback edition, College Publications 2016), which he edited in collaboration with Ian

Jarvie and Karl Milford.

Forum description

According to the Freedom House and Economist Intelligence Unit, in the

last decade the number of the world democracies has been shrinking.

Popular vote in the number of countries have led to the rise of

strongmen, who have used “democratic” and often invisible methods to

crush the usual democratic checks and balances of political power. Some

scholars have blamed neoliberalism. The others have noted the growing

rift between liberalism (insistence on rights to avoid tyranny of

majorities) and democracy (popular vote), the rift between two

necessary ingredients for the functional democracy.

The second social concern today is how to handle abundance of available

information. There is, again, the rift between the rational and the social,

the rift between the types of decision making/cognitive power(s),

problems raised by behavioral economics, but also according to the types

of logic of decision making.

These are just two trends that make Popperian philosophy vital again.

Karl Popper has been one of the most notable critics of totalitarian ways

of thinking, and his philosophy has been instrumental in transforming

ways and mores in ex-communist countries, legitimizing transition to

their democracies. But present currents in developed democracies, and

even more in the newer ones, have shown how fragile democracies may

become, and how usual requirements for democracy may be insufficient

if they are not accompanied by more stringent political and

philosophical safeguards.

Popperian philosophy is usually split into its political and scientific

“side”. In the political context, vitality of Popperianism is obvious. But

its scientific side should not be neglected in the process. The amount of

data gathered by various agencies for the number of purposes, makes its

scientific side vital too. Should we rely of Bayesian approaches in

decision making? What is the role of Popperian propensity theory

today?

World renowned guests and ex-assistants of Karl Popper (at LSE), along

with Croatian Popper scholars will explore contemporary vitality of both

sides of Popperian philosophy. We hope the audience may join in the

fruitful discussion.

Program:

Wednesday, November 14, 2018.

Arrival of the guests from Edinburgh/Frankfurt and Birmingham.

Pickup from the airport by the organizers

(Depending on arrival time, suggested schedule may change)

21:15 Lodging at Hotel Palace (5*) in the Center of the Town.

22:00 Late dinner at the Restaurant Boban, Gajeva, with the organizers (Zoran

Kurelić, Darko Polšek, Tomislav Bracanović)

Thursday, November 15, 2018.

08.00 Breakfast in the Hotel

09:00 Guests are accompanied to the Faculty of Political Sciences (DP)

Popper Zagreb forum 2018

Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Zagreb, Lepušićeva ul. 6

09:30 David Miller: “Putting Science to Work”

10:30 Jeremy Shearmur: “Karl Popper and Politics Today“

12:00 Discussion

12:30 Lunch at the nearby restaurant

14:30 Contributions from invited participants (Puhovski, Flego, Lalić, Polšek,

Kulenović, Ivanković, Kurelić, Bracanović, Jolić, Kožnjak…) and students

16:00 Coffee Break

16.30 (Cont…) Discussion on the vitality of Popperian philosophy today

18.00 Dinner with the organizers (Zoran Kurelić, Darko Polšek, Tomislav

Bracanović), to be announced later…

Friday, November 16

08:30 Breakfast in the Hotel

09:00 Guests are accompanied to the Philosophical Faculty, University of Zagreb,

Ivana Lučića 3

Public Lecture by prof. Jeremy Shearmur

Philosophical Faculty, University of Zagreb, Ivana Lučića 3

(Lecture Hall number to be announced)

09:30 Jeremy Shearmur: “Popper’s Critical Rationalism”

10:30 Discussion with scholars at FFZG

11:00 A short walk and a visit to the Institute of Philosophy

Lecture by prof. David Miller

Institute of Philosophy, Vukovarska 54

11:30 David Miller: “Deductivist Decision Making”

12:45 Discussion with scholars at the Institute

13:30 Lunch at the Restaurant Pivnica Medvedgrad

15:00 Free afternoon

Saturday, November 17

09:30 Short walk around the town (accompanied by Darko Polšek)

12:30 Departure from the Hotel Palace (accompanied by Darko Polšek) depending

on departure times of the flights

Departures to Birmingham and Glasgow (accompanied by Darko Polšek)

Bibliographies of our guests:

Useful Internet pages

David Miller: http://www.warwick.ac.uk/go/dwmiller

Jeremy Shearmur: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Shearmur

Envisaged costs:

1. Flights

a. From Birmingham

b. From Glasgow

2. Accommodation

3. Meals (approximate price for other meals)

Cost Calculation. Sum total (as of June 20, 2018)

Item PP/P-Meal Items Subtotal ∑

Flight €196 + £211 1+1 return ticket €196+ £211 3.500 kn

Accommodation

Kn 1750 2pers./3 nights 3.500kn 3.500 kn

Meals Kn 1200 4 times/5 persons 1.500kn 5.000 kn

∑ 12.000 kn

Cost division:

Institution Committed: Philosophical Faculty (Anthropology) Philosophical Faculty (Int. Coll. Funds)

Envisaged: 4.000 kn ?

Faculty of Political Science Up to 5.000 kn Institute of Philosophy Accommodation for 3

nights 1 scholar The Karl Popper Charitable Trust (?) ?