John WN Watkins
John William Nevill Watkins (born July 31, 1924 in Woking, Surrey , † July 26, 1999 in Salcombe, Devon ) was an English political scientist, philosopher and scientific theorist and a prominent proponent of critical rationalism . From 1950 - first as a lecturer, then as a professor from 1966 - until his retirement in 1989, he taught at the London School of Economics and Political Science .
Life
Military service
In 1941, at the age of 17, he graduated from the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth and then served in the British Navy . He drove on destroyers that escorted Soviet convoys and the warship with which Winston Churchill was brought back from Marrakech . In 1944 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) after torpedoing a German destroyer off the French coast.
Education
Under the influence of the book The Road to Serfdom (1944) by Friedrich August von Hayek , he decided to study at the LSE , where Hayek taught. There he graduated with honors in political science; He then went to Yale on a Henry Ford Scholarship , where he earned his MA in 1950 .
Teaching and work
At the LSE Watkins met Karl Popper , whose student he soon became. In 1958 he switched from the political science department to the philosophy department, where Imre Lakatos was also active from 1960 . Watkins and Lakatos edited the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science , and Watkins was President of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science from 1972 to 1975 . In 1970 he followed Karl Popper to his chair.
In the context of direct confrontation between Thomas Kuhn and Karl Popper at a symposium on July 13, 1965 in London on Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge (criticism and progress of knowledge) Watkins represented in its response to Kuhn's introductory paper the views of Popper's falsifiability against the Kuhnian view of the structure of scientific revolutions (" paradigm shift "). He outlined the fundamental difference between the two positions as follows:
“[Kuhn considers] the scientific community to be an essentially closed society, which is only temporarily shaken by collective nervous breakdowns, but whereupon spiritual harmony is soon restored. On the other hand, in Popper's view, the scientific community should be an open society, and indeed it is to a significant extent; an open society in which no theory - even if it is predominant and successful - no 'paradigm', to use Kuhn's term, is ever sacred. "
Watkins' widely acclaimed publications were devoted to the influence of metaphysics on science, methodological individualism, and methods of historical explanation. In 1965 he published the book Hobbes's System of Ideas ; In this work he shows that Thomas Hobbes ' political theory follows his philosophical ideas. Watkins' most important work is the book Science and Skepticism, published in 1984 - an attempt to “succeed where Descartes failed” and to show how science can survive in the face of skepticism. In his book, Human Freedom after Darwin , published posthumously in 1999, he revisited a problem that had long preoccupied him.
After his retirement in 1989, Watkins played a leading role in creating the Lakatos Award , which recognizes outstanding achievements in the field of philosophy of science and honors the memory of Watkins' colleague, Imre Lakatos , who passed away at an early age .
On July 26, 1999, eleven weeks after completing the Human Freedom after Darwin manuscript , Watkins died of a heart attack while sailing his ship Xantippe on the Kingsbridge Estuary, South Hams District, Devon .
family
Since 1952 he was married to Micky Roe. The couple had a son and three daughters.
Obituaries
- Alan Musgrave : Obituary: Professor John Watkins . In: The Independent , August 5, 1999
- J. Worrall : Obituary. John Watkins (1924-1999) In: British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 50 (4), pp. 787-789.
See also
Publications (selection)
Books
- Hobbes's System of Ideas: A Study in the Political Significance of Philosophical Theories. London 1965 (Hutchinson); Reprinted in 1989 as LSE reprint , ISBN 978-0-566-07038-9
- Freedom and choice. Tübingen 1978 (Mohr), ISBN 3-16-540652-9
- Science and Skepticism. Princeton 1984 (Princeton University Press), ISBN 978-0-09-158010-0
- Science and skepticism. Tübingen 1992 (Mohr), ISBN 3-16-945139-1
- Human Freedom after Darwin : A Critical Rationalist View. London 1999 (Open Court), ISBN 0-8126-9407-4
Essays
- Against 'Normal Science'. In Imre Lakatos , Alan Musgrave (Ed.): Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Cambridge University Press, London 1970, ISBN 0-521-07826-1 , pp. 25-37.
- Ideal Types and Historical Explanation. In: Alan Ryan (Ed.): The Philosophy of Social Explanation . Oxford University Press, London 1973, ISBN 0-19-875025-0 , pp. 82-104.
- The Unity of Popper's Thought. In: Paul A. Schilpp (Ed.): The Philosophy of Karl Popper , Book I. La Salle, Illinois 1974 (Open Court), ISBN 0-87548-141-8 , pp. 371-412.
Web links
- Literature by and about John WN Watkins in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ^ Britannia Royal Naval College in the English language Wikipedia
- ^ A b c Alan Musgrave : Obituary: Professor John Watkins , The Independent, August 5, 1999.
- ↑ Documented in Imre Lakatos / Alan Musgrave : Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. London 1970 (Cambridge University Press), ISBN 0-521-07826-1 .
- ↑ Lakatos, Musgrave: Critique and Progress in Knowledge. Braunschweig 1974 (Vieweg), ISBN 3-528-08333-6 .
- ↑ Lakatos, Musgrave: Critique and Progress in Knowledge. Braunschweig 1974 (Vieweg), ISBN 3-528-08333-6 , pp. 25f.
- ↑ Human Freedom after Darwin, London 1999, p. Ix.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Watkins, John WN |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Watkins, John William Nevill (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English political scientist, philosopher, science theorist and university professor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 31, 1924 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Woking, Surrey |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 26, 1999 |
| Place of death | Salcombe, Devon |