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Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Not exactly his finest moment... This book consists of two volumes, which really demand two different reviews, but as this does not seem to be possible a double review will have to do. The first volume, "The Spell of Plato", is compellingly written and fairly well researched, but sixty years on from its writing its flaws are easily spotted. Plato, according to Popper, was an anti-democratic, proto-nazi eugenicist - as well as being a great philosopher. Indeed, Plato was openly against the democracy in Athens at the time, but Popper is... more info
Brilliantly handled This is a review of part one of the book, which deals with Plato. The Open Society is an incredibly fair and engrossing read. I think Popper's is a robust and well-researched deconstruction of Plato's historicist ideas. Popper argues that Plato's theory of the Forms grew out of his deep psychological need for assurance that ultimate reality was secure, unchanging, and stable, in stark contrast to the political turmoil and rapid social change he witnessed around him. Further, Popper argues... more info
A great work, but censored in modern editions This is a classic work of political liberalism, and an important critique of the variant of Marxism practised in the Cold War Eastern Bloc. It has a number of worthwhile critiques of the entire "historicist" project of Hegel, which would apply just as well to modern Hegelians such as Fukuyama. However, like the Bible in medieval states, and the works of Marx in the old USSR, the powers that be cannot allow sacred texts to remain as they were originally penned: as too often they contradict current... more info
Iconoclastic writing This book has an impressive reputation for a number of reasons. For some it is a highly political text in being a defence of Democracy. For others it is a scholarly work on three major thinkers. However for some readers (and I would include myself in this category) it is excellent as a work of informed criticism and does not respect iconic writers simply because they have been revered by others. This spirit of independant thinking runs through this work like a fuse. Popper is not ungenerous to either Plato... more info
