Ernest Gellner's Work as a Crusade for Critical Rationalism and its Historical Role for Rationality and Rationalism

Ulrich Arnswald (University of Innsbruck, University of Innsbruck)

Ernest Gellner (1925–1995) has been described as a “one-man crusader for critical rationalism,” a term coined in The Independent to point out his lifelong advocacy of Enlightenment universalism, reason, and open inquiry against the intellectual currents of relativism and idealism. Deeply influenced by Karl Popper, Gellner’s philosophy was grounded in critical rationalism – the view that knowledge progresses through criticism, dialogue, and the recognition of fallibility. He applied these principles to philosophy, anthropology, and sociology, advocating for a comparative, evidence-based, and materialistic social science that rejected dogma.

Gellner's method combined empirical rigor with a polemical, accessible style that challenged academic orthodoxies. In works such as Words and Things (1959), Relativism and the Social Sciences (1985), and Postmodernism, Reason and Religion (1992), he attacked what he saw as “closed systems of thought” – from the philosophy of language and psychoanalysis to Marxism and postmodernism – because, in his opinion, they undermined rational inquiry. His analyses of nationalism, modernity, and civil society illustrated his attempt to apply critical rationalism to concrete social phenomena.

Gellner’s intellectual legacy lies in his consistent defense of universal reason and open criticism as the foundations of both science and liberal society. His “crusade for critical rationalism” thus represents not a specific doctrine or work, but a coherent and enduring commitment to truth-seeking through rational debate, empirical testing, and resistance to intellectual dogmatism. The presentation attempts to explain and illustrate these claims using examples from various works by Ernest Gellner.