ON POPPER, PROBABILITIES, AND PROPENSITIES

This paper traces the development of Popper's thinking on propensities from his writings on probability during the 1950s through to his 1990 book, A World of Propensities. It is argued that there are significan t commonalities between the views expressed in this (his last) book an d the metaphysics and methodological implications of Critical Realism. The paper concludes with some consequences for Popperian falsificatio nism, situational determinism and Popper's later view that propensitie s may be interpreted as causes.