By Paul Simei-Barton…
Revisiting the ideas and troubled life of the great philosopher Karl Popper.
Eighty years after publication of The Open Society & Its Enemies, Karl Popper’s searing analysis of how nations succumb to the fatal allure of authoritarian leaders, has once again acquired compelling, prophetic urgency.
Written entirely in New Zealand by an Austrian philosopher seeking refuge from the rabid antisemitism raging through Europe, the book grew out of Popper’s lived experience: Before leaving Europe he endured the harrowing conditions imposed on nations defeated in WW1, witnessed the systematic dismantling of democratic governance and fell victim to a particularly virulent form of antisemitism that thrived in the cultured milieu of his home city Vienna.
Taking a lectureship in Philosophy at Canterbury College Christchurch in March 1937, Popper looked back on a world edging towards war and threw himself into writing The Open Society, driven by a grandiose but earnestly held conviction that his insights might somehow nudge the world away from the hyper-polarised belligerence that could only be resolved through violence.
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