KNOWLEDGE PERSONAL OR SOCIAL

Karl Popper's methodology can be seen as the situational logic of rese arch. Popper called his method ''Epistemology without a Knowing Subjec t.'' It was dismissed as metaphysical by those who refuse to give up a n ideal knowing subject (a perfect human inductive processor). This ar ticle surveys the failure of modem discussions of this ideal, from the earliest (the writings of Sir Francis Bacon) to the latest (Kripke). The knowing subject exits at last, but leaves behind interesting resul ts. The ideal knowing subject embodied ideal rationality, outside cult ure and history. Giving up this ideal invites us to integrate science with its background, to grade rationality (from magic to science), and to integrate different degrees of rationality under one rule.