Four main concerns inform this chapter: first, to provide a brief summary of some of the main ideas attributed to Popper related to social science and politics and their reception over the past century; secondly, to rehearse some of the standard critiques of his work, so as to emphasize how someone from the margins of philosophy, someone commonly associated with the Vienna Circle, was eventually taken seriously by the philosophical establishment and appreciated on all fronts; thirdly, to illustrate the relevance of his ideas about politics and freedom to the increased popularity of his ideas about scientific methodology; and fourthly, to assess his critical rationalism as an ideology and guide for political leadership and institutions.

A brief survey

The Open Society and Its Enemies (Popper [1943] 1966) became an event more than just a book published during World War II. What made this two-volume book such a sensation was its clear line of demarcation, a methodological device Popper has used so effectively in his discussion of the philosophy of science. Epictetus did the same: let us divide the world and life, he said, into those things that are within our control and those which are not; the trick is, of course, figuring out what events and issues fall into either category. In a brilliant move, Epictetus provides us with a road map, a scale and a benchmark, while shifting the responsibility to us to decide which items or events belong to which category.