Creative self-criticism in science and in art

Abstract

The article "Creative Self-Criticism in Science and Art" is the published text of K. Popper's speech at the opening of the annual summer music festival in Salzburg (Austria) on July 26, 1979.

In his speech, Popper analyzes the similarities and differences between the work of great natural scientists and the work of great artists, trying to dispel pessimistic ideas about scientific achievements, widespread in cultural circles. Popper notes that science and poetry have a common origin, which goes back to myths. He emphasizes that the main goal of both is the search for truth. Emphasizing the importance of a critical approach in scientific and artistic creativity, Popper distinguishes two types of criticism: one that is focused on aesthetic and literary interests, and one that is rational, scientific in nature and involves mutual criticism. He also notes that both art and science retain many traces of their common origin, including a tendency to mythologize, and the use of fantasy and imagination to explain the nature of our world and our place in it.

Popper also emphasizes the essential differences between science and art. He points out that in science there is progress, since scientific achievements are the result of cooperation and mutual criticism, which leads to the development of knowledge. At the same time, in art, progress exists only in the context of the creative power of the individual artist, where creative self-criticism plays an important role. Popper compares the scientific method, based on the falsification of hypotheses, with the artistic process, in which creators experiment, test new ideas and subject them to self-criticism. He warns against dogmatism in both science and art, emphasizing that true creativity is possible only in an atmosphere of intellectual freedom.

This speech vividly demonstrates Popper not only as a profound thinker, but also as a brilliant orator, a public intellectual, and a man of encyclopedic knowledge, knowledgeable not only in the achievements of science but also in various forms of art. His style combines the rigor of argument with a lively, witty, and inspired manner of presentation. The optimistic tone of the speech reflects Popper's belief in the power of reason, freedom, and self-criticism as the driving force behind the progress of science, art, and human culture in general.