The Open Philosophy and the Open Society:
A Reply to Dr. Karl Popper’s Refutations of Marxism

CONTENTS

[Foreword, London, October 1967, pp. 5-7]

PART ONE: TOWARDS AN OPEN PHILOSOPHY

Chapter 1: THE SCIENTIFIC CHARACTER OF MARXISM  page 17
1. Marxism in Wonderland 17
2. Is Marxism Falsifiable? 18
3. Fundamentals of Marxist Social Theory 23
4. Does Marxism Allow Logical Contradictions? 31
5. Dialectical Materialism and Scientific Method 36

Chapter 2: THE MATERIALIST APPROACH 42
1. Materialism versus Idealism 42
2. The Case against Idealism 47
3. The Case for Materialism 51

Chapter 3: THE MEANING OF DIALECTICS 60
1. Dialectics versus Metaphysics 60
2. Materialist Dialectics 67
3. The Concrete Analysis of Concrete Conditions 73
4. The Dialectical Materialist Theory of Knowledge 81
5. Reinforced Dogmatism Reinforced 88

Chapter 4: THE NECESSITY OF DIALECTICS 97
1. The Science of Interconnections 97
2. The Unity of Opposites 101
3. The Test of Dialectical Materialism 111
4. The Philosophy of Identity 121

PART TWO: PREMISES FOR POLITICS

Chapter 1: HISTORICISM AND HISTORICAL PREDICTION 129
1. The Dogmatism of Historicism 129
2. Men Make their own History 133
3. Historical Prediction 137
4. Prediction, Probability and Intent 143
5. Necessity and Inevitability 151
6. Science and Utopia 159

Chapter 2: SCIENCE APPLIED TO POLITICS 164
1. Problems of Social Science 164
2. Social Science and Politics 172
3. Conduct and Aims of Marxist Political Parties 178

Chapter 3: THE CRITIQUE OF CAPITALISM 188
1. Has Capitalism Disappeared? 188
2. The Labour Theory of Value 192
3. Surplus Value and Exploitation of Wage-Labour 198
4. The General Law of Capitalist Accumulation 204

Chapter 4: SOCIAL REVOLUTION AND SOCIAL ENGINEERING 215
1. The Socialist Revolution 215
2. Social Engineering 222
3. Reform and Revolution 227

Chapter 5: THE INSTITUTION OF POLITICAL POWER 232
1. Institutions 232
2. Institutions and Classes 239
3. Classes and Political Power 245
4. The Executive Power of the State 253

Chapter 6: THE BATTLE OF DEMOCRACY 258
1. The Definition of Democracy 258
2. Public Control and Class Control 265
3. Political and Economic Power 271
4. Socialist Democracy 274

PART THREE: TOWARDS AN OPEN SOCIETY

Chapter 1: EQUALITY 281
1. Equality of Rights 281
2. Equality and the Abolition of Classes 287

Chapter 2: FREEDOM 292
1. Freedom and Restriction of Freedom 292
2. Freedom, Rights and Security 299
3. Freedom from Exploitation 304
4. Freedom and Necessity 312
5. The Means and Opportunities for Individual Freedom 319

Chapter 3: THE OPEN SOCIETY 325
1. The Closed and the Open Society 325
2. The Way Into the Open Society 328
3. Responsibility, Individual and Collective 336

Chapter 4: COMMUNISM 343
1. The Rationality and Practicality of Communism 343
2. Social Implications of Modern Techniques 345
         [On William Blake, Marx, & Machines 346]
3. The Communist Programme 352

Chapter 5: THE TRANSITION TO COMMUNISM 360
1. Democratic Socialist Planning 360
2. From Sociahsm to Communism 368

Chapter 6: THE OPEN SOCIETY AND ITS ENEMIES 373
1. Communism and Anti-Communism 373
2. Against Violence, for Just Laws, for Individual Rights 375
3. The Rationalist Belief in Reason 383

Index: 391