LAKATOS, IMRE

LAKATOS, IMRE (1922–1974), British philosopher of science. Lakatos was Born Imre Lipsitz in Debrecen, Hungary, and educated at the local university. Lakatos survived World War II in hiding in Transylvania and, as a convinced Marxist, organized Communist cells. He took the name "Lakatos" because it sounded more "working class." After the war he became an influential member of the new Communist ruling elite in Hungary, but was expelled from the Party in 1950 and fled to England after the 1956 Revolution. From 1960 he was a lecturer at the London School of Economics, where he served as professor of logic from 1970 until his death. In Britain, Lakatos became one of the most influential of recent philosophers of science. Abandoning Marxism, he became a neo-Popperian (although also indebted to Thomas Kuhn), arguing that science is best viewed as consisting of discrete "research programs" with their own "hard core" of central assumptions. By the time of his death he had shifted to the political right and was a vigorous opponent of student radicalism. He died at the age of 51 after suffering a heart attack. Many of his essays were printed in Proofs and Refutation (1976, edited by John Worrall and Elie Zahar). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: ODNB online. (William D. Rubinstein (2nd ed.)