ABSTRACT
J.W.N. Watkins was a student of Popper, and became his successor, as professor in philosophy, at the London School of Economics. He has probably written more about methodological individualism than any other adherent of this doctrine. The reason for this is, I believe, that it fell to his lot to defend methodological individualism against its critics during the height of the debate in the 1950s. Because of the many critical attacks, Watkins was forced to attempt a clarification of the doctrine of methodological individualism and to state it in a way less vulnerable to critique. A result of this is that Watkins has provided more explicit statements of methodological individualism than any other adherent of this principle.
