Karl Popper: “We may become the…”

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to The Open Society and Its Enemies and files it under Critical Rationalism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Karl Popper

Karl Popper (1902–1994) was an Austrian-born philosopher of science and politics who spent his mature career in New Zealand and at the London School of Economics. Fleeing Nazism, he developed critical rationalism against verificationism and historicist prophecy.

Interpretation

Popper is contrasting two postures toward history. The prophet claims to know where history is going and therefore treats people as material for a predicted outcome; the maker accepts uncertainty and acts within it, remaining corrigible. His claim is that the first posture produces worse results as well as worse politics, because it removes the possibility of learning from error. The sentence is the conclusion of his argument against historicism.

Why it matters

The distinction is practical: predicting removes your ability to be wrong, and anything that removes that also removes your ability to correct course.

Concepts in this quote

Fate: Fate appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat fate as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.
Critique: Critique appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat critique as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.
Freedom: Freedom is among the most searched and most contested themes in philosophy: what it is to choose, to be responsible, and to live without illegitimate constraint.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Karl Popper. (n.d.). We may become the makers of our fate when we have ceased to pose as its prophets. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0131

MLA: Karl Popper. “We may become the makers of our fate….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0131.

Chicago: Karl Popper. “We may become the makers of our fate….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0131.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “We may become the makers of our fate…”?

The passage is attributed to Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies. The archive attributes this English wording to The Open Society and Its Enemies and files it under Critical Rationalism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Karl Popper mean by fate?

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Epictetus and Seneca), fate is framed through Stoicism and Philosophy of Will. Some passages define fate; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through fate, critique, freedom.