Soros's background and intellectual influences

George Soros, an important economic figure of the post-World War II era, developed the theory of reflexivity, which explores the role of knowledge and anticipation in financial markets. His upbringing in a multilingual, upper-class Hungarian family equipped him with a strong foundation in languages and philosophy. Soros connects fallibilism, the idea that scientific hypotheses are improved through refutation, to the way knowledge operates in society. He challenges excessively optimistic visions of technocratic knowledge and argues for openness, unpredictability, and reflexivity in shaping social and economic systems.