Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Vernon, Richard

Titel

The “Great Society” and the “Open Society”: Liberalism in Hayek and Popper

Ist Teil von

• Canadian journal of political science, 1976-01, Vol.9 (2), p.261-276

Ort / Verlag

New York, USA: Cambridge University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

1976

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• A critique of current liberal political philosophy, with particular focus on F. A. Hayek's Law, Legislation and Liberty, Vol I: Rules and Order (London: 1973), & K. R. Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol I: The Spell of Plato (see SA 12:2/64A8668). Recent liberal political thinking has rested on the notions of the "Great" & "Open" Societies. Authors are not in full agreement about the meaning of these terms: Hayek's "Great Society" is not the same as G. Wallas's. Popper's "Open Society" differs from H. Bergson's. More significantly, the "Great Society" & the "Open Society" are confused by some theorists: closely considered, they are quite distinct from one another. Hayek's "Great Society" rests on a principle of dispersal (or divided labor), Popper's "Open Society" on a principle of plurality (or diverse opinion): since the former conception is derived from a sociological picture, & the latter from a methodological doctrine, the two are not logically equivalent. What Hayek & Popper do share is an attempt to encompass political phenomena within scientific categories: neither the "Great Society" (drawn from social science) nor the "Open Society" (drawn from scientific method) does justice to the complexity of political liberalism. AA.