What is pancritical rationalism (PCR) also known as Comprehensively Critical Rationalism (CCR)?
PCR is a prescription for rationality that emerges from the work done in evolutionary epistemology based on the work of Karl Popper, William W. Bartley, and Donald Campbell. Pancritical rationalism and evolutionary epistemology agree in denying that our knowledge is grounded in justification. In their alternative view, our knowledge is grounded in a combination of conjecture and criticism. Our knowledge consists of those propositions that survive criticism, not those that are deductively derived from a set of “self-justifying” or “nonpropositionally justified” axioms. PCR tells us that we need both rich, fruitful conjecture and disciplined, effective criticism to increase our base of knowledge. What distinguishes PCR from the older idea of critical rationalism is that critical rationalism could not defend itself against the accusation of an irrational commitment to rationality. By doing away with all recourse to justificationism, PCR can be seen as rational as long as it exposes itself
