“The Open Society and Its Enemies” by Karl Popper Essay

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The Antique philosophers laid the foundations for the development of the philosophical thought. However, their ideas would be criticized by many philosophers of the subsequent centuries. Plato was the outstanding representative of the philosophy of the Ancient Greece. His ideas were reflected in his famous dialogues. The Republic was the Plato’s apology, in which he discussed the principles of the state and different kinds of the state structure. Plato paid much attention to the conception of ideas. He said that that there was the unseen world of ideas in contrast to the material world. Plato considered that the aristocracy was the only fair government and defended the upper social classes. He said that the upper ten should stand at the top of the power. According to Plato, the upper ten included the wise men or the philosophers.

“There is another thing: – young men of the richer classes, who have not much to do, come about me of their own accord; there are plenty of persons, as they soon enough discover, who think that they know something, but really know little or nothing” (“Plato” n.pag.).

Karl Popper was the outstanding Austrian philosopher of the XX century. He was known as one of the critics of the Platonism and the founders of the critical rationalism in the philosophy. His ideas were reflected in the book The Open Society and Its Enemies. In contrast to Plato, Popper was the supporter of the democracy and defended its values. His criticism of the Plato’s ideas was largely focused on the Plato’s arguments in support of the totalitarian government.

In The Open Society and Its Enemies, Karl Popper gave the arguments against the philosophy of Plato. In particular, he criticized his ideas on the fair government and the idea that the philosophers representing the upper ten should rule the society. Popper said, “But the title ‘Republic’ is, quite simply, the English form of the Latin rendering of a Greek word that had no associations of this kind, and whose proper English translation would be ‘The Constitution’ or ‘The City State’ or ‘The State’” (Popper n.pag.). Popper claimed that the power of the top officials and the elite should be limited. He explained that Plato defended the closed society, the one, in which the power of the aristocracy was unlimited. In contrast, he argued that the open society was the progressive one as it facilitated the equality among people.

The critics of Popper said that he provided the weak arguments for the antihumanism and antiliberalism of Plato. They also claimed that Plato did not urge to the ruthless violence in favor of the state. The critics argued that Plato did not aim at implementing the herd instinct in the system of the social mechanisms.

In my view, the teachings of the Plato on the government and the state are unfair in relation to the rights of many citizens. Essentially, Plato supports the unfair social order by saying that the aristocracy is the fairest government. I do believe that every citizen should have the right to participate in the governance of the state. That is why I agree with the ideas of Karl Popper and his criticism of Plato.

In summary, I should say that the ideas presented by different philosophers deserve careful consideration and comparison. However, I support the arguments by Popper. In particular, I think that the open society and the democracy are the best state structures.

Works Cited

Plato, “Apology”. Classics.mit.edu. 2009. Web.

Popper, Karl 1962, The Open Society and Its Enemies. PDF file. Web.

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