Karl Barth's Final Testimonies and German Church in Conflict, Popper's Myth of Framework

When reading this collection of essays (London: Routledge, 1994) by Popper, I found an excellent summary of Popper's thought over the books I've already read. I also asked myself some questions regarding the refutability of my work. Do I know what evidence would constitute a refutation of my general theory of strategy? Yes, the choice of the indirect strategy by some actor who should choose a direct strategy. Are those categories of values and type of strategy distinct? Yes. Is it possible to select only some evidence in case studies in order to find what I wish to find? Yes, but that is possible in any case. Is there an additional danger in self-fulfilling prophecies because values have to be a relative judgment? Yes, but it is possible to guard against it.

Well, I'm glad I thought it all over. There were some quotes of interest to me. On p. 34, "I hold that orthodoxy is the death of knowledge, since the growth of knowledge depends entirely on the existence of disagreement." On p. 60, "we...can logically distinguish between a mistaken method of criticizing and a correct method of criticizing. The mistaken method starts from the question: how can we establish or justify our thesis or our theory? It thereby leads either to dogmatism, or to an infinite regress, or to the relativistic doctrine of rationally incommensurable frameworks. By contrast, the correct method of critical discussion starts from the question; What are the consequences of our thesis or our theory? Are they all acceptable to us?" On p. 70, "I used to warn my students against the widespread idea that one goes to college in order to learn how to talk and write 'impressively' and incomprehensibly." And finally, on p. 72, that some leaders of German sociology 'who do their intellectual best, and do it with the best conscience in the world, are nevertheless, I believe, simply taking trivialities in high-sounding language, as they were taught. They teach this to their students, who are dissatisfied, yet do the same. The genuine and general feeling of dissatisfaction, manifest in their hostility to the society in which they live, is a reflection of their unconscious dissatisfaction with the sterility of their own activities."

Barth's German Church Conflict is a collection of essays written during the rise of National Socialism in Germany in the 30s. They were brave, although Barth was protected to some extent by his Swiss nationality, but he was nonetheless deported for them from his home of 13 years, in Bonn. Final Testimonies is an assortment of less important transcriptions of last interviews and talks. Some of it is quite moving, particularly the quotation about Christ: "In him is the spur to work, warfare, and fellowship. In him is all that I have attempted in my life in weakness and folly." That is from p. 30 of my edition (Grand Rapids: Eeardmans, 1972), and it ought also to be my epitaph.