Algunas reflexiones acerca del enfoque popperiano sobre la racionalidad y sus implicaciones para las ciencias sociales

Abstract

There are two different notions of human rationality in Popper´s work: the notion that stems from his evolutionary theory of knowledge and learning (PTKL), and the notion embodied in his methodological proposal for the social sciences known as `Situational Analysis´ (SA). This essay provides an in-depth critical analysis of the relation between these two approaches and its implications for the social sciences. In particular, we focus on (i) the difference between PTKL and both the `objectivist´ and `subjectivist´ version of SA, (ii) Schumpeter´s distinction between the `rationality of the observer´ and the `rationality in the observed´, and (iii) Hayek´s arguments about the nature of the `facts´ of the social sciences.