The Open Society and Its Enemies
A two-volume 1945 work by Karl Popper that attacks historicism and defends liberal democracy, chiefly through critiques of Plato, Hegel, and Marx.
Open society: A society in which institutions permit criticism, political change, and individual choice. Popper presents it as the alternative to political systems organized around fixed historical destiny.
Falsifiability: The property of a claim that it can, in principle, be contradicted by evidence. Popper’s model of conjecture and criticism informs his case against doctrines that evade refutation.
Karl Popper: An Austrian-British philosopher of science and politics, best known for critical rationalism and his defense of open societies. He wrote the book in exile during the Second World War.
Dialectical materialism: A Marxist theory that explains historical development through material conditions and conflict. Popper rejects its claim to disclose laws governing society’s historical direction.
Anti-totalitarianism: Political opposition to systems that seek comprehensive control over society. Popper’s critique became a major postwar argument against ideological justifications for authoritarian rule.
Historicism: The doctrine that history follows discoverable laws or patterns that enable prediction of society’s future. Popper makes its rejection the book’s central philosophical argument.
Institutional criticism: Organized scrutiny of public decisions through procedures, independent bodies, and protected dissent. Popper treats criticism as a safeguard against rulers whose policies cannot be peacefully corrected.
Plato: An ancient Greek philosopher whose dialogues address knowledge, justice, and political order. Popper reads Plato’s ideal state as a model of closed, hierarchical society.
Marxism: A political and social theory based on the analysis of class relations and capitalist production developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The book disputes Marxism’s predictive historicism while acknowledging its moral concern with oppression.
Social democracy: A political tradition that pursues social equality through democratic institutions and regulated markets. Popper’s support for gradual reform distinguishes his position from revolutionary socialism.