Karl Popper’s Critical Rationalism in the Face of the Crisis of Democracy and the Contemporary Fundamentalism

Abstract

With the rise of fundamentalism in contemporary societies, it emerges the necessity to understand it and to propose concrete programs to confront it. Karl Popper's critical rationalism constitutes a starting point for the theoretical and practical overcoming of this phenomenon. The main objective of this article is to analyze Karl Popper's method of critical rationalism in front of the phenomenon of fundamentalism as an expression of the crisis of democracy. To achieve this, in the first section, the notions "crisis of democracy" and "fundamentalism" will be discussed. Then, in the second section, the method mentioned above will be introduced. It is concluded that Popper's work and his epistemological contribution are an essential moment in the rescue of a democratic conception that revalues free and responsible dialogue regarding the others.

Keywords: Crisis of democracy, fundamentalism, critical rationalism, Karl Popper, freedom, open society