Sunday 20 May 2012

politics


Here is roughly my position on what I consider the most important issue, as articulated by Karl Popper in The Open Society and its Enemies:
The existence of social evils, that is to say, of social conditions under which many men are suffering, can be comparatively well established. Those who suffer can judge for themselves, and the others can hardly deny that they would not like to change places. It is infinitely more difficult to reason about an ideal society. Social life is so complicated that few men, or none at all, could judge a blueprint for social engineering on the grand scale; whether it be practicable; whether it would result in a real improvement; what kind of suffering it may involve; and what may be the means for its realization. As opposed to this, blueprints for piecemeal engineering are comparatively simple. They are blueprints for single institutions, for health and unemployed insurance, for instance, or arbitration courts, or anti-depression budgeting, or educational reform. If they go wrong, the damage is not very great, and a re-adjustment not very difficult.
 Let's have an argument!

1 comment:

  1. Yeah, see, I was convinced by this part too! The Open Society genuinely changed how I look at politics in a big way.

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