Introduction

Popper's central principle, that all knowledge grows through a process of conjecture and refutation, or blind variation and selective retention, or trial and error-elimination, has significant implications for a range of levels of knowledge and situations. At the heart of the Popperian approach to learning, to society, to education, is the realisation that certainty is an unattainable and dangerous goal. Even the best-informed individual is prone to error to a large degree, and the denial of this has had numerous consequences, including tyranny and philosophical wild goose chases. Consequently, recognition of the fallibility of all knowledge, in any form, must be evident in a coherent epistemology.