The Open Society and Its Enemies
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The Open Society and Its Enemies
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Narrated by:
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Liam Gerrard
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By:
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Karl Popper
About this listen
One of the most important books of the twentieth century, Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies is an uncompromising defense of liberal democracy and a powerful attack on the intellectual origins of totalitarianism. Popper was born in 1902 to a Viennese family of Jewish origin. He taught in Austria until 1937, when he emigrated to New Zealand in anticipation of the Nazi annexation of Austria the following year, and he settled in England in 1949. Before the annexation, Popper had written mainly about the philosophy of science, but from 1938 until the end of the Second World War he focused his energies on political philosophy, seeking to diagnose the intellectual origins of German and Soviet totalitarianism. The Open Society and Its Enemies was the result.
An immediate sensation when it was first published in two volumes in 1945, Popper's monumental achievement has attained legendary status on both the Left and Right and is credited with inspiring anticommunist dissidents during the Cold War. Arguing that the spirit of free, critical inquiry that governs scientific investigation should also apply to politics, Popper traces the roots of an opposite, authoritarian tendency to a tradition represented by Plato, Marx, and Hegel.
©1994 The University of Klagenfurt/Karl Popper Library (P)2019 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Open Society and Its Enemies
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- JCM
- 15-03-25
Surprisingly entertaining in the second half
This gets much more fun in Book Two. Previously the long fixation on Plato kinda defeated me - felt repetitive and TBH kinda obvious. My previous couple of attempts to read this failed a couple of chapters in. Sadly, the renewed topicality of rising authoritarianism and fascism (hi, Trump 2!) made it a bit easier to stick with, to see what other lessons from last time a sizeable chunk of America decided to forget.
But the rant against Hegel and the surprisingly sympathetic analysis of Marx's teleology was actually entertaining. If I'd known Book Two was so much more fun, I'd have skipped ahead.
The narrator is fine on most objectives measures, but a bit high pitched for my liking. Became a bit hard to listen to after a while. Not as bad as some, but one I may consider avoiding in future.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Billy the squid
- 13-11-24
Great defensive of the fragility and importance of democracy
A great overview of the philosophical frameworks that have led to both totalitarian tyranny, and enlightened democracy
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 15-11-22
Top top top material!
This book is a must-read or must-listen for anybody who is interested in social and political progress of humanity. 🤯
Also, the narrator's performance is excellent! 👌🏽
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 27-01-23
One of the best reads of the 20th century
A must read in a time when freedom is under attack by illiberal forces.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 20-08-23
Amazing narrator
Content wise, the book is mind blowing. But in an audiobook it would be only possible to sustain it with a great narrator. And they did it. The narrator gave a character to the piece. A mater narrator to a masterpiece.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr GS Mccreadie
- 23-06-20
Enlightening
In the context of Brexit, China, USA, Africa, the shifting political sands, #BLM, international health concetns and the post-truth world being fought over, this text seemed relevant and still addresses some of the fundamental questions of today - as historicism and its revisionists rise and fall. The clamour for attention in the instantaneous world of the now brings some of Popper's observations into a sharpened clarity and from the totalitarianist ethics of Plato to the legacy of a post-industrialized Hegel, it is maybe time to look anew at the emerging dialogue between Maoist Communism & Jesuit Liberalism as a dialectic.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Nelson Carreras
- 31-07-22
Highly recommended
A great book about political philosophy and the foundations of a free society. Very well performed audiobook
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