Popper’s World of Human Reality

Abstract

According to Karl Popper, the Universe can be better understood by dividing it into three parts: World 1, which consists of the entities of the physical world; World 2, the world of human reality, including mental states, consciousness, and psychological dispositions; and World 3, the world of the constructions of the human mind. World 3 includes literature and the arts, the social institutions, and especially the findings and theories of science.²¹ Popper’s major interest in this tripartite division was to argue for the independent reality of World 3 despite the fact that it was the product of human minds. Because of this dominant interest, he failed to elaborate in detail the difference between World 1 and World 2, though he clearly saw a necessity to make such differentiation. Without a clearer differentiation between the physical world of objects and the world of human reality, it is of course possible that one may mistakenly treat objects as subjects, and subjects as objects. If it can be assumed that there are essential differences between Popper’s World 1 and 2, then each may require its own appropriate method of study. Otherwise, the application of methods for the study of subjects to objects, and vice versa, may be expected to produce a confusing World 3.