The Open Society and Its Enemies

The Open Society and Its Enemies

Cover of volume one of the first edition
Author	Karl Popper
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Subject	Historicism
Published	1945 (Routledge)
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages	361 (1995 Routledge ed., vol. 1) 420 (1995 Routledge ed., vol. 2) 755 (1 volume 2013 Princeton ed.)
ISBN	(1 volume 2013 Princeton ed.)

The Open Society and Its Enemies is a work on political philosophy by Karl Popper, in which Popper offers a critique of theories of teleological historicism, according to which history unfolds inexorably according to universal laws. Popper indicts Plato, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Karl Marx as totalitarian for relying on historicism to underpin their political philosophies, though his interpretations of all three philosophers have been criticized. Written during World War II, The Open Society and Its Enemies was first printed in London by Routledge in 1945 in two volumes: "The Spell of Plato" and "The High Tide of Prophecy: Hegel, Marx, and the Aftermath". A one volume edition with a new introduction by Alan Ryan and an essay by E. H. Gombrich was published by Princeton University Press in 2013. The work was on the Modern Library Board's 100 Best Nonfiction books of the 20th century.

As Popper was writing in academic obscurity in New Zealand for the duration of World War II, several other figures in philosophy and the social sciences were involved in its path to publication. Gombrich was entrusted with the main task of finding a publisher; Friedrich Hayek wanted to get Popper to the London School of Economics and thus was enthused by his turn to social philosophy; Lionel Robbins and Harold Laski reviewed the manuscript. Lastly, J.N. Findlay suggested the book's ultimate title after three others had been discarded. ('A Social Philosophy for Everyman' was the original title of the manuscript; 'Three False Prophets: Plato-Hegel-Marx' and 'A Critique of Political Philosophy' were also considered and rejected.)