I'm aware of that Feynman quote. But he apparently had in mind typical philosophers as he did read and understand Popper.
Here's a quote from David Deutsch (correcting someone who claimed that Feynman had never heard of Popper):
> For what it's worth, I happened to mention Popper in the one conversation I had with Feynman, sometime in the 80s, and he did not say "who's that?" but replied meaningfully to the point.
I know Deutsch and have heard the full story. Feynman showed substantial understanding of Popper. Plus avoided all the usual epistemological errors.
Feynman may have been introduced to Popper by Wheeler. Here is Deutsch on Wheeler:
> Wheeler ... (my boss and Feynman's thesis advisor and subsequently his collaborator), knew a lot about Popper and was honoured and delighted when Popper quoted one of Wheeler's aphorisms as a chapter epigraph. Wheeler and I discussed Popper in detail on several occasions and I tried to persuade him to become a Popperian -- ultimately without success, because he preferred Polanyi (!). Nevertheless there were specific aspects of Popperian philosophy of science that he very much agreed with, especially that scientific theories are not derived from anywhere, that they are conjectural and full of errors, and that science makes progress by correcting these errors.
http://beginningofinfinity.com/discussion
I'm aware of that Feynman quote. But he apparently had in mind typical philosophers as he did read and understand Popper.
Here's a quote from David Deutsch (correcting someone who claimed that Feynman had never heard of Popper):
> For what it's worth, I happened to mention Popper in the one conversation I had with Feynman, sometime in the 80s, and he did not say "who's that?" but replied meaningfully to the point.
I know Deutsch and have heard the full story. Feynman showed substantial understanding of Popper. Plus avoided all the usual epistemological errors.
Feynman may have been introduced to Popper by Wheeler. Here is Deutsch on Wheeler:
> Wheeler ... (my boss and Feynman's thesis advisor and subsequently his collaborator), knew a lot about Popper and was honoured and delighted when Popper quoted one of Wheeler's aphorisms as a chapter epigraph. Wheeler and I discussed Popper in detail on several occasions and I tried to persuade him to become a Popperian -- ultimately without success, because he preferred Polanyi (!). Nevertheless there were specific aspects of Popperian philosophy of science that he very much agreed with, especially that scientific theories are not derived from anywhere, that they are conjectural and full of errors, and that science makes progress by correcting these errors.