The Open Society and Its Enemies
by Karl Popper · first published 1945
36% recommend61% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
Defense of democracy, liberalism and rational thought, built on a critique of Plato, Hegel and Marx. Recommended for readers wanting the case against totalitarianism and for the Paradox of Tolerance.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
An open society provides its citizens with a mechanism for changing government; a closed society doesn't, forcing its citizens to rely on extra-legal revolution. Popper analyzes the open-closed society debate using three exemplars of closed-society advocacy: Plato, Hegel (and wow, does Popper hate on Hegel), and Marx. The main analytical viewpoints are historicist (backward-looking, utopian) motivations for closed societies and rational (forward-looking, empirical) motivations for open societies.
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…It does suggest philosophers ought to be the supreme rulers, which may explain that useless profession’s fondness for the guy, and the excuses they make for him. Far better to read Karl Popper’s “The Open Society and Its Enemies”, volume 1, “The Spell of Plato” to understand how abominable Plato’s influence has been for mankind.
on “How to read Plato (1995)” ↗I think Karl Popper ("The Open Society and its Enemies") puts it best: a democracy is not defined by how the governed elect our leaders, but how they get rid of them. Popper came to this idea when looking at Hitler's Germany. Hitler came to power through…
on “The Basic Problem of Democracy (1919)” ↗…establishment that is interested in consolidating power and manufacturing consent. Corporate and government power have merged a long time ago; it's not gonna reverse itself. Liberals need to read Popper's Open Society and its Enemies, and realize that oligarchy is just as big a threat as fascism, if not bigger due to the population not being innoculated against it (https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1039842312061374464). [0]: https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/paypal-partners-with...…
on “PayPal Demonetises the Daily Sceptic” ↗…outcomes from AI and what we might be able to do about them Noam Chomsky - Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies. How public discourse is shaped and controlled Karl Popper - The Open Society and its Enemies. How to work against totalitarianism
on “Ask HN: Which books you have read till now that were worth investing time in?” ↗As much as I don't like Marx, he's still more complex than that. You may like to read _The Open Society and Its Enemies_ by Karl Popper. It is a strong critique of Marx (and Plato and Hegel). But it also goes into some detail about what Marx's views are (which is an important part of criticizing them). Marx was wrong,…
on “"Ayn Rand's Revenge" - NYTimes Book Review of new Rand biography” ↗-Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations by Ludvig Wittgenstein -The Open Society and its Enemies by Karl Popper -On Liberty John Stuart Mill -Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and their Computation by Machine by John McCarthy
on “Ask HN: Best Philosophical Books?” ↗…Yes I am aware of what ontology is. Yes I have studied philosophy. Do you want me to counter-cite philosophers for you to read? You might learn something by reading _The Myth of the Framework_ and _The Open Society And Its Enemies_ by Karl Popper. If you want to trash freedom, human rights, peaceful cooperation, and other aspects of modern Western civilization, and deny their objective value, don't pretend there is no serious…
on “Aerial footage of uncontacted Amazon tribe” ↗…regret. One might argue that Marxism can't be possibly blamed for this, but (and this is something many have a hard time understanding) Marxism does inevitably lead to these conditions. Karl Popper's "The Open Society and Its Enemies" is a good start at why. > Cuba has done OK considering the embargo. Cf Haiti. Comparing Cuba with Haiti is the equivalent of comparing Southern Europe with Northen Africa. Very close to each other…
on “50th Anniversary of May 1968, Paris: Memories of an Illusory Revolution” ↗…much more to that incredible record than free markets, it's common law, bankruptcy law and many democratic anti-corruption techniques. Hence Hayek's "The Constitution of Liberty"[1], and Popper's "The Open Society and its Enemies"[2] which continue the reading above to the complex of arguments about the rest of the social aspects of free societies. From across the sea, this has to be the greatest problem with a certain brand of…
on “The 2 Simple Reasons the Soviet Union Was Doomed to Fail” ↗The Ego and its Own, by Max Stirner. The Open Society and its Enemies, by Karl Popper. The Illuminatus! trilogy. Robin Hobb books (with special mention of the farseer trilogy), Neal Stephenson, Alan Moore, Terry Pratchett.
on “Ask YC: favorite books” ↗Karl Popper's 'The Open Society and Its Enemies'. From the outside Popper's book looks as just a simple attack on Plato, Hegel and Marx, however at it's core is one of the greatest defenses of democracy, liberalism, and rational thought ever written.…
on “Ask HN: Good books?” ↗You may be interested in Karl Popper's (famous mostly for the importance of falsifiability) 'The Open Society and Its Enemies'. Choice quote from it: "Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant…
on “RIP Vile Rat, EVE Online Diplomat, IRL State Dept Rep Killed In Benghazi” ↗- The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper - Writings on an Ethical Life by Peter Singer - Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter - Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens
on “Ask HN: What Book Has the Most Page-for-Page Wisdom?” ↗…Human Things: Thomas Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Norbert Weiner - The Human Use of Human-Beings Bertrand Russell - A History of Western Philosophy Karl Popper - The Open Society and Its Enemies Daniel Dennet - Consciousness Explained E. Abbot Abbot - Flatland
on “Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?” ↗…restricted to the realm of facts. If it was it would be science and not politics. Politics is about applying values to facts. EDIT: This concept is fairly well explained by Karl Popper in his book, The Open Society and Its enemies. In Chapter 5, Nature and Convention [1] which is worth a read if this is hard to grasp. quoted> It is important for the understanding of this attitude to realize that these decisions can never be derived…
on “Freedom of Speech (2019)” ↗