The Open Society and Its Enemies | Popper, Karl

Kurze Beschreibung

First published in two volumes in 1945, Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies is one of the most influential books of all time. This single volume paperback edition, available for the first time, includes a preface by Vaclav Havel and a personal recollection of the story behind the publication of The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper's friend, E.H. Gombrich.

 'If in this book harsh words are spoken about some of the greatest among the intellectual leaders of mankind, my motive is not, I hope, to belittle them. It springs rather from my conviction that, if our civilization is to survive, we must break with the habit of deference to great men.'

- Karl Popper, from the Preface

Written in political exile during the Second World War and first published in two volumes in 1945, Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies is one of the most influential books of all time. Hailed by Bertrand Russell as a 'vigorous and profound defence of democracy', its now legendary attack on the philosophies of Plato, Hegel and Marx exposed the dangers inherent in centrally planned political systems and through underground editions become an inspiration to lovers of freedom living under communism in Eastern Europe.

Popper's highly accessible style, his erudite and lucid explanations of the thoughts of great philosophers and the recent resurgence of totalitarian regimes around the world are just three of the reasons for the enduring popularity of The Open Society and Its Enemies and why it demands to be read today and in years to come.

Foreword  Preface: 'Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies in the contemporary global world' by Václav Havel.  'Personal Recollections of the Publication of The Open Society' by E.H. Gombrich.  Acknowledgements  Preface to the First Edition  Preface to the Second Edition  Introduction  VOLUME 1: 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  Addenda  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 Meaning?  Addenda (1961, 1965)  NOTES  Notes to Volume 1  Notes to Volume 2  Index