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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazon reader, May 3, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: RC Series Bundle: The Poverty of Historicism (Routledge Classics) (Paperback)
Do you have a deep down, hard to enunciate, disquiet with the level of debate in the broad area of social theory and "social engineering"? Do you feel that many of the claims and pronouncements made by social theorists (of any political disposition) are unjustified, but do not really know why you feel that way? If so, this book is a useful starting point for an examination of the problem. In it, Popper develops the argument that "Historicism" (the term has more than one meaning in different contexts) as he defines it is a flawed approach, and that it is not a justifiable base for the sweeping claims of the historicist. To Popper, historicism is the concept that, by examination of history, we are able to define the rules that govern social change and hence are able to predict those changes. His initial impetus to look into this area was a critical evaluation of Marx - see his essay "How I became a philosopher without really trying" published in "All life is problem solving". In its simplest form, Popper's argument is the observation that observation of the past does not allow one to accurately predict the future. This may seem to be a fairly obvious statement, but it is worth keeping in mind as he develops the various arguments that make up the case for and against historicism. Popper's philosophy is often overlooked, perhaps because he attempts to limit himself to goals that he can reasonably achieve. He is a very prominent figure in the philosophy of science, and much of his epistemology relates to the methodology of the empirical sciences, and hence to direct observation, and the relationship of observation to development and testing of theories. Perhaps because he is not too ambitious, his philosophy is less "sexy". It is, however, eminently reasonable, and avoids many of the great stumbling blocks of traditional Western philosophy - for example, the problem of induction and infinite regress. This book is non-technical, and is accessible to those with little formal philosophical training. It addresses the dominant paradigm in social engineering, and suggests why we may be unhappy with that paradigm.
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31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The fallacy of Utopian Engineering, October 18, 2002
This review is from: RC Series Bundle: The Poverty of Historicism (Routledge Classics) (Paperback)
Sir Popper is considered one of the most important thinkers in the area of philosophy of science. "The Poverty of Historicism" despite its complexity, carries a fundamental simple message: prediction over the course of history (its social and economic implications) is nothing more than a fantasy, an illusion. And this assertion is based on the principle that the events/persons responsible for changes are themselves affected by these same changes. It is Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty applied to social sciences! Historicism is the theory that history develops itself according to pre-determined, inexorable laws with a fixed objective or end. Fascism and communism were laid upon these presuppositions, and the course fo history has proven the fallacy (therefore poverty) of such assumptions. The attempt to have a holistic approach by eliminating individual differences through "brain washing" is incompatible with critical thought, and although it will bring about a concentration of power it will also cause an erosion of knowledge. The Poverty of Historicism becomes a poverty of imagination, of the ability of critical judgement and analysis. Historicism, according to Karl Popper preposterously assumes the postion of having discovered the problem of "change," but revolutions are not unique to our modern era and the metaphysical speculation of what constitutes "change" has been addressed since the time of Heraclitus. The goal of applying scientific methods with the same accuracy and predictability as those in theoretical physics is bound to end in failure when it concerns the course of history. The influence of the prediction upon the predicted events is here being termed as the "Oedipus effect." Physics can arrive at universally valid uniformities, whereas sociology must be contented with the intuitive understanding of unique events, and of the role they play in particular situations, occuring within particular struggles of interests, tendencies and destinies. If sociological laws determine the degree of anything, they will do so only in very vague terms, and will permit, at the best, a very rough scaling. Karl Popper who was a fierce advocate of democrary and social critiscim, dedicated this book to all of those who have been victims to the fascist and communist belief in the inexorable laws of historical destiny.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Death of Historicism, June 15, 2011
This review is from: RC Series Bundle: The Poverty of Historicism (Routledge Classics) (Paperback)
Karl Popper's book is an outstanding critique to what has become known as historicism, the belief that the future of society can be accurately predicted, and that history follows a fixed path towards a specific goal. This idea is mostly associated with two influential figures. The first is the German philosopher Hegel who produced a philosophy of history based on the tradition of philosophical idealism, and the other is Karl Marx, who, strongly influenced by Hegel, created the concept of the "materialistic conception of history", or as is commonly known today, dialectical materialism. In this concept, Marx laid out the theory that history is pre-determined to move towards its ending point, which is a classless, stateless, propertyless society he described as "communism". Marx believed that he had uncovered the scientific laws of history and thus could predict its development and its end. The main problem arises when such ideas escape the scientific community and are translated into political action. Hence Communism was driven by Marxist historicism, and other oppressive regimes, such as the Nazis, had a touch of racialist historicism in their ideology. One needs to understand that not all of what Marx and Hegel wrote was plain historicism, and their methods and theories have been adopted in various disciplines, based of course on their relevance. But this notion of a fixed historical road, or the idea that one can clearly predict the major events of the future, is what Karl Popper objects to. In this book, he explains with clear logic, that such ideas are unscientific, and should be included in the trash-can of pseudo science. Popper's argument is strong and to the point, demolishing the scientific and the logical basis that historicist theories claim to have. I strongly recommend this book, for it demolishes a branch of thought that has stayed way to long with us, and has caused, sometimes intentionally, but many times unintentionally, great harm to humanity.
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