The open society and its enemies /
Karl Popper ; with a new introduction by Alan Ryan and an essay by E. H. Gombrich.
- New One-volume Edition.
- Princeton ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, c2014.
- xli, 755 p. ; 23 cm.
Includes index. Includes "Personal recollections of the publication of The open society" by E. H. Gombrich.
Vol. 1. The spell of Plato. The myth of origin and destiny. Ch. 1. Plato’s descriptive sociology. Ch. 2. Heraclitus. Ch. 3. Plato’s theory of forms or ideas -- Plato’s descriptive sociology. Ch. 4. Change and rest. Ch. 5. Nature and convention. Plato’s political programme -- Ch. 6. Totalitarian justice. Ch. 7. The principle of leadership. Ch. 8. The philosopher king. Ch. 9. Aestheticism, Perfectionism, Utopianism -- The background of Plato’s attack. Ch. 10. The open society and its enemies. Addenda (1957, 1961, 1965) -- Vol. 2. The high tide of prophecy. Ch. 11. The rise of oracular philosophy. Ch. 12. Hegel and the new tribalism -- Marx’s method. Ch. 13. Marx’s sociological determinism. Ch. 14. The autonomy of sociology. Ch. 15. Economic historicism. Ch. 16. The classes. Ch. 17. The legal and the social system -- Marx’s prophecy. Ch. 18. The coming of socialism. Ch. 19. The social revolution. Ch. 20. Capitalism and its fate. Ch. 21. An evolution of the prophecy -- Marx’s ethics. Ch. 22. The moral theory of historicism. The aftermath. Ch. 23. The sociology of knowledge. Ch. 24. Oracular philosophy and the revolt against reason -- Conclusion. Ch. 25. Has history any meaning?. Addenda (1961, 1965).
It is an uncompromising defense of liberal democracy and a powerful attack on the intellectual origins of totalitarianism. It has attained legendary status on both the Left and the Right and is credited with inspiring anticommunist dissidents during the Cold War.