Product Description

One of the century's greatest and most influential thinkers, Karl Popper, calls to all of us to recognize our responsibilites in preserving the democratic system, reminding us that it is our actions which will create the world of tomorrow.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1118827 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 112 pages

From the Back Cover
In these interviews with the journalist Giancarlo Bosetti, Popper ranges widely over contemporary political and social issues. He reflects on many topics, from the decline of the Soviet Union and the danger of a Third World War, to our obligations to children and the potentially harmful influence of television. He warns us that the increasing violence and egotism in our society, if unchecked, will imperil our civilization. The volume contains also two talks on the theory of democracy, arguing convincingly that democracy has never been the rule of the people (nor can or should it be), but only the best method we know for preventing tyranny.>

Customer Reviews

Freedom
In these interviews with Giancarlo Bosetti, Karl Popper gives us a rare appreciation of current political events, like the Cuba crisis of 1962, Gorbachev's Russia, the fall of the Marxist regimes in Eastern Europe or the Balkan problem (ethnic identity as a State doctrine).

His main purpose is individual liberty (freedom of opposition, democracy). The other side of the French Revolution coin, equality, endangers freedom; and if freedom is lost, there will not be equality among the unfree.

This is not to say that there should be absolute freedom. Human beings, and certainly the intellectuals, have moral obligations.
But his hope in intellectual honesty has been bitterly betrayed. The intellectuals invented the most terrible harm: mass exterminations in the name of an idea, a doctrine or a theory.

For Popper, the main problems in the modern world are the search for peace, demographic responsibility (stop the demographic explosion) and good education. At this level, his plea for media censorship is at least controversial. But for him, a message of non-violence is a moral must towards our children.

This book should be read as an example of how one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century proposes solutions for world problems within his philosophical framework and that of other important predecessors like Kant and Mill.
Not to be missed.