"This book raises issues that might not be apparent from the table of contents. It sketches some of the difficulties faced by our civilization — a civilization which might be perhaps described as aiming at humanness and reasonableness, at equality and freedom; a civilization which is still in its infancy, as it were, and which continues to grow in spite of the fact that it has been so often betrayed by so many of the intellectual leaders of mankind. It attempts to show that this civilization has not yet fully recovered from the shock of its birth — the transition from the tribal or "enclosed society," with its submission to magical forces, to the 'open society' which sets free the critical powers of man. It attempts to show that the shock of this transition is one of the factors that have made possible the rise of those reactionary movements which have tried, and still try, to overthrow civilization and to return to tribalism."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
HumanistsPhilosophers from the United KingdomPhilosophers from AustriaLogicians from AustriaLogicians from the United Kingdom
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Introduction; part of this has sometimes been paraphrased : Our civilization has not yet fully recovered from the shock of its birth — the transition from the tribal or 'closed society', with its submission to magical forces, to the 'open society' which sets free the critical powers of man.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Popper
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Related Quotes
"[F]rom the moral point of view, pain cannot be outweighed by pleasure, and especially not one man's pain by another m…"
"We should realize that from the moral point of view suffering and happiness must not be treated as symmetrical; that …"
"I believe that there is, from the ethical point of view, no symmetry between suffering and happiness, or between pain…"
"Appealing to his Einstein's] way of expressing himself in theological terms, I said: If God had wanted to put everyth…"
"The answer to this problem is: as implied by Hume, we certainly are not justified in reasoning from an instance to th…"
"Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the t…"
"Scientists try to eliminate their false theories, they try to let them die in their stead. The believer—whether anima…"
"If we are uncritical we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find, confirmations, and we shall look…"
"Piecemeal social engineering resembles physical engineering in regarding the ends as beyond the province of technolog…"
"You can choose whatever name you like for the two types of government. I personally call the type of government which…"