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FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISHEDITIONThis book was conceived, written and published in Italian at a timewhen Sir Karl Popper was still alive and active. It therefore seemedfitting, for the English translation, to update the biographicalinformation as well as the bibliography. I did not think it necessary tomake any major changes, because the aim of this work is to draw outthe main lines of Popper’s thought and to show that they remainedconstant through the evolution of his huge body of writings.The Italian text was, however, intended for a public familiar with acultural context that is not exactly the same as that of the Englishspeakingcountries, and so the present edition differs at certain pointsfrom the original. I have also adopted a number of suggestions made byProfessor Pieranna Garavaso of Minnesota University, who very kindlyread the text and commented on it in detail. I would like to thank hermost warmly for her invaluable remarks, which helped me in no smallmeasure to improve the book and to make it more suitable for Englishspeakingreaders. I am well aware that my survey of Popper’s thought isnot free from gaps, and probably also misunderstandings, but for these Iam, of course, alone responsible.