The Open Society and Its Enemies

by Karl R. Popper

Overview

A landmark defense of democracy that has been hailed as one of the most important books of the twentieth century

One of the most important books of the twentieth century, The Open Society and Its Enemies is an uncompromising defense of liberal democracy and a powerful attack on the intellectual origins of totalitarianism. An immediate sensation when it was first published, Karl Popper’s monumental achievement has attained legendary status on both the Left and Right. Tracing the roots of an authoritarian tradition represented by Plato, Marx, and Hegel, Popper argues that the spirit of free, critical inquiry that governs scientific investigation should also apply to politics. In a new foreword, George Soros, who was a student of Popper, describes the “revelation” of first reading the book and how it helped inspire his philanthropic Open Society Foundations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691212067
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	09/15/2020
Series:	Princeton Classics , #115
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	804
Sales rank:	699,799
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Karl Popper (1902–1994) was a professor at the London School of Economics and one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century.

Table of Contents

VOLUME 1: THE SPELL OF PLATO Introduction, The Spell of Plato, THE MYTH OF ORIGIN AND DESTINY 1. Historicism and the Myth of Destiny 2. Heraclitus 3. Plato's Theory of Forms or Ideas PLATO'S DESCRIPTIVE SOCIOLOGY: 4. Change and Rest 5. Nature and Convention, PLATO'S POLITICAL PROGRAMME: 6. Totalitarian Justice 7. The Principle of Leadership 8. The Philosopher King 9. Aestheticism, Perfectionism, Utopianism THE BACKGROUND OF PLATO'S ATTACK: 10. The Open Society and its Enemies Notes Addenda Index of Platonic Passages Index of Names Index of Subjects
VOLUME 2: THE HIGH TIDE OF PROPHECY The Rise of Oracular Philosophy 11. The Aristotelian Roots of Hegelianism 12. Hegel and The New Tribalism MARX'S METHOD: 13. Sociological Determinism 14. The Autonomy of Sociology 15. Economic Historicism 16. The Classes 17. The Legal and the Social System MARX'S PROPHECY: 18. The Coming of Socialism 19. The Social Revolution 20. Capitalism and Its Fate 21. An Evaluation MARX'S ETHICS: 22. The Moral Theory of Historicism THE AFTERMATH: 23. The Sociology of Knowledge 24. Oracular Philosophy and the Revolt against Reason CONCLUSION: 25. Has History any aning? Notes Addenda (1961, 1965) Index of Names Index of Subjects

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A work of first-class importance which ought to be widely read for its masterly criticism of the enemies of democracy, ancient and modern.”—Bertrand Russell

“Karl Popper was right.”—Václav Havel

“One of the great books of the century.”—The Times (London)

“Learned, subtly argued, and passionately written.”—Sidney Hook, New York Times

“Brilliant. . . . It remains the best intellectual defence of liberal democracy.”—The Economist

“Magnificent.”—Hugh Trevor-Roper, Polemic