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Open Society and Its Enemies (Volume 2) (Paperback)
by Karl R. Popper
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Nonfiction, Philosophy |
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| MSL Pointer Review:
A classic that is everything at the same time: a social thought, a philosophical history and political and social science. A must read. |
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Author: Karl R. Popper
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Pub. in: February, 1971
ISBN: 069101972X
Pages: 432
Measurements: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.0 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00439
Other information: 5th Revise edition
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- MSL Picks -
For most intellectuals, Popper's research would have been a lifetime of intellectual heavy lifting. But then Popper takes a fillet knife to the murkiest parts of western philosphy, gives it the death of a thousand cuts, and rubs it with salt. And he does it with a combination of good cheer, scientific precision, and a strong dose of scorn.
Popper's critique of Utopian philosophies is straightforward - in a world of mandatory equality and tribal life, there are only peasants. But with no way to excel, the only other career choice is to be a dictator. And since Utopia demands the destruction of imperfect democratic institutions, the seeds of post-Utopian terror are there from the start. Although Popper was largely concerned with Facism, he'd have been right at home in today's world of yuppie ecoterrorists and ethnic cleansing. People that romanticize some sort of modern tribal life don't understand that tribal life means war and hatred. Or, as Popper suggests, they really just an outlet that lets them vent their hatreds while sounding noble.
The overwhelming thing about these books is the depth and breadth of Popper's research. This book leaves the reader with a better understanding of human nature, history, philosophy, and politics. It's a book that truely educates. So Popper gives the best of both worlds - on the one hand there is the pleasure of watching a true master dismantle dangerous popular opinions with a wicked intensity. And on the other hand, it also a critical analysis of philosophy and politics that makes William F. Buckley sound like Forrest Gump.
Popper's importance is more than just a philosopher. He is a person who was of the twentieth century and was revolted by the development of totalitarian systems. In his view these systems were the product of "essentialist" philosophical systems or ideologies. He favored pragmatic systems in which ideology could be challenged by his method. This work is a work that is one of the most learned and systematic attacks on ideological systems which has been written in the last hundred years.
Last but not least is that The Open Society is a beautiful defence of human freedom written in majestic prose by one of the few indisputably great thinkers of the century. The prose style is a sheer delight. Popper writes with vividness and clarity in the service of high ideals. His work is a vital antidote to those many thinkers, especially on the post-Sartrean Left, who destroy forests in order to promote painfully turgid and woolly views which - on the rare occasions when they are understandable at all - turn out to be the bedrock for people who hate freedom. Fortunately, Popper's book is taken very seriously, a testament to the diminishing power of such ideas.
Target readers:
General readers
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Open Society and Its Enemies (Volume 1)
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Karl Popper (1902-1994). Philosopher, born in Vienna.One of the most famous thinkers of the twentieth century.
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From the Publisher:
Popper was born in 1902 to a Viennese family of Jewish origin. He taught in Austria until 1937, when he emigrated to New Zealand in anticipation of the Nazi annexation of Austria the following year, and he settled in England in 1949. Before the annexation, Popper had written mainly about the philosophy of science, but from 1938 until the end of the Second World War he focused his energies on political philosophy, seeking to diagnose the intellectual origins of German and Soviet totalitarianism. The Open Society and Its Enemies was the result.
In the book, Popper condemned Plato, Marx, and Hegel as "holists" and "historicists" - a holist, according to Popper, believes that individuals are formed entirely by their social groups; historicists believe that social groups evolve according to internal principles that it is the intellectual's task to uncover. Popper, by contrast, held that social affairs are unpredictable, and argued vehemently against social engineering. He also sought to shift the focus of political philosophy away from questions about who ought to rule toward questions about how to minimize the damage done by the powerful. The book was an immediate sensation, and - though it has long been criticized for its portrayals of Plato, Marx, and Hegel - it has remained a landmark on the left and right alike for its defense of freedom and the spirit of critical inquiry.
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| View all 6 comments |
Etienne Rolland-Piegue (MSL quote), Japan
<2007-01-09 00:00>
When confronted with the rise of totalitarianism and the destruction of all that he held dear, Poper felt a single, overwhelming urge: to return to the Greeks, to the dawn of our civilization, so as to understand the root of the evil and to offer a practical way out of bestiality. His search was motivated by the insight that "this civilization has not yet fully recovered from the shock of its birth - the transition from the tribal or 'closed society', with its submission to magical forces, to the 'open society', which sets free the critical powers of man."
Heraclitus set the stage with his claim that "the cosmos, at best, is like a rubbish heap scattered at random." If "everything is in flux" and "you cannot step twice into the same river", then at least we can try to discover the historical or evolutionary laws which will enable us to prophesy the destiny of man.
Plato's claim to greatness is to have discovered such a law: that "all social change is corruption or decay or degeneration," and that the only way to break this cycle of decay is to arrest development and return to the Golden Age, where no change occurs. His belief in perfect and unchanging things, the Platonic Ideas from which all things originate, finds its expression in all fields of inquiry: be it social justice, nature and convention, wisdom and truth, or goodness and beauty.
Behind these lofty ideals, Popper uncovers a discomforting truth: Plato envisioned the ideal Greek polity as a totalitarian nightmare, where the 'race of the guardians' had to be kept pure from any miscegenation and where the role of the rulers was to breed the human cattle according to some esoteric formula (the 'Platonic Number', a number determining the True Period of the human race). Along his apology of Sparta came his endorsement of infanticide and his recommendation that children of both sexes be "brought within the sight of actual war and made to taste blood."
Popper demonstrates that these crazy ideas were not the vague mumblings of an otherwise sound philosopher: they were central tenets in Plato's philosophy, a system which has been characterized by another author as "the most savage and most profound attack upon liberal ideas which history can show."
Popper connects this extreme radicalism of the Platonic approach with its aestheticism, i.e. with "the desire to build a world which is not only a little better and more rational than ours, but which is free from all its ugliness." Plato, the Philosopher-King, can be best characterized as an artist: a man attracted to a world of pure beauty, a craftsman who tries to visualize an ideal model of his work and to copy it faithfully, and for whom "the part has to be executed for the sake of the whole, and not the whole for the sake of the part." His desire to "start from a clean canvas" or his claim to prefer "the original to the copy" find disturbing echoes in contemporary political debates. Contrary to Plato's belief, however, the canvas can never be made clean, and the copy often improves upon the original.
Let's give Popper the last word: "But there I must protest. I do not believe that human lives may be made the means for satisfying an artist's desire for self-expression. We must demand, rather, that every man should be given, if he wishes, the right to model his life himself, as far as this does not interfere too much with others. Much as I sympathize with the aesthetic impulse, I suggest that the artist might seek expression in another material." |
A Canadian reader (MSL quote), Canada
<2007-01-09 00:00>
What I particularly liked about Popper's book was its accessibility. He does not entirely avoid jargon (historicism), but he explains whatever philosophical jargon he does use in a straightforward and understandable way. Because he writes so clearly, the reader can really feel he is participating, by reading, in a meaningful way, in an important debate.
Some philosophers seem to revel in the obscurity of their expressed thoughts. Popper on the other hand seems to express his ideas in a clear and direct fashion. Refreshingly, he skewers pomposity, pretence and philosophical obfuscation (on this last, he is highly critical of Hegel).
The accessibility of the ideas in the book makes one think that this is the way philosophy should be written, sets a standard of clarity, and is a good invitation to further reading and reflection. His systematic logical development of ideas, by making historical or literary observations, and working out the logical consequences, demonstrates the possibilities of analytical reasoning applied to philosophical issues.
This is a book about political philosophy. What was particularly striking was the contrast in point of view he paints between Plato's desire, as Popper describes it, to avoid change, and the measures that Plato was prepared to advocate in order to avoid change on the one hand, and on the other hand the perspectives of an open society. How valid all of his criticisms are I am unsure; I subsequently read that some Platonists have taken issue with Popper's analysis and conclusions. Even if Popper is wrong in some respects about Plato's intentions, none the less, Popper's points on the division between those who seek to avoid change for society, and those who wish to create an institutional structure that permits constructive change have great currency. What is interesting is that elements of resistance to change also occur in open societies.
What is intriguing about this book is that it was written in 1943 or so. It was Popper's war effort. His real strength is supposed to be in the philosophy of scientific investigation. Next on my list. A great and thoughtful read. |
An American reader, USA
<2007-01-09 00:00>
Popper attempts - and largely succeeds - in puncturing the myth that authoritarian societies are in any way superior to Open Societies. This is an important message, particularly in this morally relativistic age where intellectual support (and justification) of authoritarian regimes is at an all-time high. The terrible truth is that totalitarian regimes do horrible things to their own people without qualms.
Popper demolishes the idea that a planned society is somehow preferable to a free one. A planned society is necessarily a static society, i.e. Eastern Europe and the USSR since 1945; the exact opposite is true of dynamic, continually evolving open societies. A casual look will convice all except the loonies still "waiting for the Revolution" that a liberal, market-driven culture produces goods and services that an authoritarian one cannot.
But his other arguement is deeper, more subtle. An open society is intrinsically more powerful for its intellectual machinery. It is not the material wealth of the West that should be admired (or disparaged if you are of that type). It is our intellectual dominance - particularly the US - that is so overwhelming. And it is true in all areas - scientific research, inventions, art, music, science...open societies excel, planned societies falter.
This is Popper's strongest arguement for an open society - the relationship between economic and political freedom. It is not possible to have one without the other over the long haul. Yet, Popper touches on what might be considered the greatest weakness of our own success - the idea that material wealth leads does not require political freedom or participation. In this era of slogans, sound bites and everyone from actresses to radio hosts to rap stars dispensing political advice, it is important to remember that an open society exists only so long as citizens choose freedom through informed choices. Intellectual laziness or (worse) depravity is the first step to cultural decline. An important, readable work.
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Gabriel Nichols (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-09 00:00>
I greatly enjoyed this book, Popper is one of history's greatest forgotten minds. However I do find myself wondering if Mr. Enigl has seriously read this book? Popper, while certainly an enemy of totalitarianism was not at all an enemy of the use of state power. In fact in several places of the book he deals with the pardox of complete freedom. In particular I would reference this following:
"I believe that the injustice and inhumanity of the unrestrained 'capitalist system' described by Marx cannot be questioned; but it can be interpreted in terms of what we called, in a previous chapter, the paradox of freedom. Freedom, we have seen, defeats itself, if it is unlimited. Unlimited freedom means that a strong man is free to bully one who is weak and to rob him of his freedom. This is why we demand that the state should limit freedom to a certain extent, so that everyone's freedom is protected by law. Nobody should be at the mercy of others, but all should have a right to be protected by the state.
Now I believe that these considerations, originally meant to apply to the realm of brute-force, of physically intimidation, must be applied to the economic realm also. Even if the state protects its citizens from being bullied by physical violence (as it does, in principle, under the system of unrestrained capitalism), it may defeat our ends by its failure to protect them from the misuse of economic power. In such a state, the economically strong is still free to bully one who is economically weak, and to rob him of his freedom. Under these circumstances, unlimited economic freedom can be just as self-defeating as unlimited physical freedom, and economic power may be nearly as dangerious as physical violence; for those who possess as surplus of food can force who are starving into a 'freely' accepted servitude, without using violence. And assuming that the state limits its activities to the suppression of violence (and to the protection of properly), a minority which is economically strong may in this way exploit the majority of those who are economically weak. " |
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