Popper and Truth

“But the approach to truth is not easy. There is only one way towards it, the way through error. Only through our errors can we learn; and only he will learn who is ready to appreciate and even to cherish the errors of others as stepping stones towards truth, and who searches for his own errors: who tries to find them, since only when he has become aware of them can he free himself from them.

The idea of our self-emancipation through knowledge is therefore not the same as the idea of our mastery over nature. The former is, rather, the idea of a spiritual self-liberation from error, from superstition and from false idols. It is the idea of one's own spiritual self-emancipation and growth, through one's own criticism of one's own ideas – though the help of others will always be needed.”



Karl Popper, 'In Search Of A Better World'.