Imre Lakatos

Imre Lakatos
Lakatos, c. 1960s
Born
Imre Lipsitz

(1922-11-09)9 November 1922
Died2 February 1974(1974-02-02) (aged 51)
London, England
Political partyMKP (1945–1948)
MDP (1948–1950)
Education
EducationUniversity of Budapest
Eötvös József Collegium
University of Debrecen (PhD, 1947)
Moscow State University
University of Cambridge (PhD, 1961)
ThesisEssays in the Logic of Mathematical Discovery (1961)
Doctoral advisorR. B. Braithwaite
Other advisorSofya Yanovskaya
Philosophical work
Era20th-century philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
SchoolAnalytic philosophy
Historical turn
Fallibilism
Mathematical quasi-empiricism
Historiographical internalism
InstitutionsLondon School of Economics
Doctoral studentsDonald A. Gillies
Spiro Latsis
John Worrall
Main interestsPhilosophy of mathematics, philosophy of science, history of science, epistemology, politics
Notable ideasResearch programme, method of proofs and refutations, methodology of scientific research programmes, methodology of historiographical research programmes, positive vs. negative heuristics, progressive vs. degenerative research programmes, rational reconstruction, mathematical quasi-empiricism, criticism of logical positivism and formalism, sophisticated falsificationism,

Imre Lakatos (UK: /ˈlækətɒs/, US: /-ts/; Hungarian: Lakatos Imre [ˈlɒkɒtoʃ ˈimrɛ]; 9 November 1922 – 2 February 1974) was a Hungarian philosopher of mathematics and science, known for his thesis of the fallibility of mathematics and its "methodology of proofs and refutations" in its pre-axiomatic stages of development, and also for introducing the concept of the "research programme" in his methodology of scientific research programmes.