Nobody Is Perfect
Even strong advocates of rationality, like Karl Popper, can be personally irrational and fail to practice what they preach, highlighting a common disconnect between intellectual beliefs and everyday behavior.
THE IDEA
Nobody Is Perfect
I have some sobering information about Popper the man. Witnesses of his private life find him rather un-Popperian. The philosopher and Oxford don Bryan Magee who befriended him for close to three decades depicts him as unworldly (except in his youth) and narrowly focused on his work. He spent the last fifty years of his long career (Popper lived ninety-two years) closed to the outside world, insulated from outside distractions and stimulation. Popper also engaged in giving people “firm sounding advice about their career or their private life, though he had little understanding of either. All this, of course, was in direct contravention of his professed (and indeed genuine) beliefs, and practices, in philosophy.”
He was not much better in his youth. Members of the Vienna Circle tried to avoid him, not because of his divergent ideas but because he was a social problem. “He was brilliant, but self-focused, both insecure and arrogant, irascible and self-righteous. He was a terrible listener and bent on winning arguments at all costs. He had no understanding of group dynamics and no ability to negotiate them.”
I will refrain from commonplace discourse about the divorce between those who have ideas and those who carry them in practice, except to bring out the interesting behavioral problem; we like to emit logical and rational ideas but we do not necessarily enjoy this execution. Strange as it sounds, this point has only been discovered very recently (we will see that we are not genetically fit to be rational and act rationally; we are merely fit for the maximum probability of transmitting our genes in some given unsophisticated environment). Also, strange as it sounds, George Soros, obsessively self-critical, seems to be more Popperian than Popper in his professional behavior.
When to use it
When evaluating public figures, consider that their personal behavior may not reflect their intellectual contributions.
In self-improvement, use this idea to identify areas where your actions contradict your values and work on consistency.
In decision-making, be aware that even experts can be irrational in personal matters; seek outside perspective or self-reflection.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Popper's Personal Life
Despite being a philosopher of critical rationalism, Karl Popper was described as unworldly, argumentative, and unable to handle group dynamics. He gave poor personal advice and was insulated from outside stimulation, directly contradicting his own philosophical principles.
George Soros as a Contrast
George Soros, who was influenced by Popper, is noted as being obsessively self-critical and more Popperian in his professional behavior than Popper himself was in his personal life. Individuals may fail to embody the ideas they promote.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Can you think of a time when you strongly advocated a principle but failed to apply it in your own life? What made it difficult?
How might the gap between rational theory and personal behavior be explained by evolutionary biology?
What measures can you take to align your daily actions more closely with your stated beliefs?
Often confused with
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Fooled by Randomness The Hidden Role of Chance in the Markets and in Life (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)