The open society and its enemies12/8/2022 ![]() ![]() Popper questioned the idea that there were inexorable laws of human history, believing history to be influenced by the growth of knowledge, which is always unpredictable. Some of his teaching, indeed, would eventually play an important part in the intellectual development of Thomas Kuhn ( No 21 in this series). His philosophical interests also concerned science and the uncertainty of knowledge. Henceforth, he would devote himself to a lifelong assault on totalitarian thought in general, and Marxism in particular. The Nazis’ annexation of Austria, with the Anschluss of 1938, forced the young philosopher into permanent exile. Popper was not only dismayed by the failure of democratic parties to prevent fascism from taking over Austrian politics in the 1920s and 1930s, he suffered directly from the consequences of this historic failure. Eventually, during the long disillusionment of the 1920s, he came to realise that the sacrifice of human life must be a last resort, and that radical thought and conduct must be exercised with exemplary caution and prudence. Although he quickly became disillusioned, this youthful flirtation with Marxist ideology would lead him to distance himself from those who believed in violent revolution. ![]() For a few months in 1919 he had even considered himself a communist, becoming quite at home with the orthodoxies of class conflict, and the central tenets of Marxist economics and history. The rhetorical force and clarity of Popper’s writing is singular and impressive, and never less than intensely readableĪs a young man, Popper had adopted Marxism, a decision that would seriously influence many of his later ideas. At the same time, The Open Society and Its Enemies (published in two volumes: The Spell of Plato and The High Tide of Prophecy: Hegel, Marx, and the Aftermath) was the product of the philosopher’s own intellectual journey. His fierce critique of Plato, Hegel and Marx was understood as an assault on totalitarian thought, and became widely fashionable, even when denounced by dissenting scholars and rivals. Before the inevitable backlash, Popper, an émigré intellectual determined to address “the difficulties faced by our civilisation”, became a touchstone for progressive opinion. ![]()
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