Karl Popper - The Formative Years, 1902–1945: Politics and Philosophy in Interwar Vienna

The book has several different aspects, all of absorbing interest, including the detailed reconstruction of Popper's intellectual career and the depiction of the social and political milieu of Vienna between the wars.Popper was the archetypal workaholic. Hacohen reports that he worked for 360 days of the year, all day, without the distraction of newspapers, radio or TV. Several times a month, even in old age, he worked all night and friends such as Bryan Magee would get an early morning call from Popper, bubbling with excitement to report on his latest ideas. Popper lived well out of London near High Wycombe and when Magee gained Popper's confidence he was invited to visit, taking the train to "Havercombe" (in Popper's heavily accented English). When I made the trip to Havercombe, Popper arranged to meet me at the station, carrying a copy of the BBC Listener, presumably to pick him out from all the other elderly gentlemen of middle-European extraction who might be thronging the platform at 2.00 on a Wednesday afternoon. In the event, he left the magazine at home and the kiosk had sold out so he had to buy The Times and fold it to the size of the Listener. Of course he was the only person in sight apart from the Station Master. Popper, then aged 70, had what his research assistant tactfully described as a "very positive" attitude to driving. Fortunately it was not far to his home and there were few other cars on the road. Safely home, our conversation laboured, and he frequently pushed a tray of choc-chip cookies towards me. Later he lamented to his assistant that I had eaten a whole weeks supply of his favorite cookies in one afternoon. These aspects of Popper are the other face of the man who some described as "the totalitarian liberal".Hacohen has provided sufficient background to explain why Popper's ideas were so exciting for some people, and so threatening for others, though it was left to Bill Bartley in the 1960s to articulate the way that Popper had challenged the unstated and uncriticised assumption of "justificationism" which is the glue that holds together the ideas of the positivists and other "true belief" philosophers. Popper's lack of progress in the community of professional philosophers needs to be understood against the persisting background of justificationism, subjectivism and determinism which he has criticised in favour of critical rationalism, conjectural objective knowledge and non-determinism.Hacohen has assembled a massive amount of material and a lesser talent in organization would have lost the plot among the details. Helped by a liberal quantity of headings sub-headings and his very clear exposition, he has kept his material under control and kept several balls in the air with superb aplomb. The several balls are Popper's diverse interests and the chaotic events that were going on around him in Vienna, not only among the intellectuals but also in Austrian politics.These events forced Popper to flee to the other side of the world, to New Zealand, surely the antithesis of Vienna in most cultural, intellectual and political respects. There, his campaign for critical rationalism, objectivism and non-determinism was waged in political philosophy. His achievement in writing the two large volumes of "The Open Society and its Enemies" can be compared with the Battle of Britain, where young pilots held Hitler at bay in the skies over the English Channel. Popper daily patrolled the intellectual stratosphere, challenging Hitler's intellectual henchmen from Plato to modern times. This work would have been an amazing achievement under any circumstances, as it was it had to be done in the face of dreadful news from home (fourteen relatives died in the Holocaust), under the threat of Japanese invasion and against the resistance of his Professor who regarded his research and writing as theft to teaching time.To conclude, this book is a wonderful piece of scholarship and its deserves to be read with close attention by anyone with a shred of interest in the ideas that have shaped the world today. With any luck Popper's ideas will help to shape the world tomorrow. I dissent from Hocohen's reading of Popper's ideas as a prop for social democracy, but anyone imbued with the spirit of critical rationalism can make up their own mind on that.This book is actually worth six stars, so buy two copies, one for your local library.

Hacohen's last paragraph - ''One walks the streets of Vienna with unremitting dread. They are a constant reminder of the erasure of a culture and the genocide of a people. . . . One is faced with a vivid demonstration of what Popper called ''radical evil''. By the nature of their projects, historians cannot directly address contemporary problems . . . , but they can call attention to historical that represent unfulfilled promises. . . . Fin-de-siècle progressivism and Red Vienna represent such moments.'' (551)This conclusion well describes Hacohen's aim. Poppers life is subordinate to the desire to defend socialism (and maybe Marxism). Nevertheless, contains immense scholarship, excellent analysis of Popper's intellectual growth, and outstanding explanation of the context of Popper's life and his ideas.Introduction - context, biography and autobiography in Popper scholarship1. Progressive Philosophy and the politics of Jewish Assimilation in late imperial Vienna2. The Great War, the Austrian Revolution, and Communism youth in war3. The early 1920's: School reform, socialism and Cosmopolitanism4. The Pedogic institute and the Psychology of Knowledge5. The Philosophical breakthrough6. The Logic of scientific discovery and the Philospohical Revolution7. Red Vienna, the ''Jewish question'' and emigration8. Social science in exile9. The Open Society10. The rebirth of Liberalism in Science and PoliticsEpilogue: Popper in the postwar World, 1946-1994This work almost has two modes. One; an extensive, thorough, detailed explanation and analysis of Popper's intellectual ideas and writings. Includes summary of his critics arguments and Popper's response. Vast array of scientists and philosophers included. Wittgenstein, Russell, Hayek, Von Mises, Aron, Ayer, Carnap, Einstein, Hegel, Kant, Mach, Carl Menger, etc., etc., are all here. Popper's critic of Plato and Aristotle changed their reputation forever. Hayek changed Popper's understanding of economics. Much detail on the disputes between Austrian subjectivism and German historicism. Many similar explanations of intellectual conflicts. This is one area.The second mode is the description of Popper's personal life and circumstances. Personality traits, depression, conflicts with students and workmates, etc. is presented in detail. The Vienna of his youth, the effect of his Jewish culture, both on him and Austria, adds insight. Profound research and clear understanding of the era provide the background and motivation of Popper's (and others) desire to resolve the scientific and philosophical problems that began there. Explains the influence of the positivists and their impact. Well done.This work written for scholars/academics. The focus on intellectual life, with explanations and detailed analysis, can be daunting. It is well done - but is so complex, so extensive - that reader will need a serious interest in epistemology, social theory, and/or history of ideas.The history of Popper's life is thorough and provides good context for his ideas. However, this reads more as a reference work than a novel.Bibliography contains about one thousand references. Extensive twenty page index.

I read this book after Caldwell's excellent "Hayek's Challenge". I don't normally read biographies, but that was so good I hunted around for related material (and found this).Unfortunately, this suffers in comparison. Caldwell is much better at signposting and structuring the argument. In contrast, Hacohen jumps around, often covering the same period in different contexts. And his hand is too heavy - the authorial opinions are often forced (or even plain odd - what on earth does he have against Popper's wife?).Still, his intentions are generally honourable (not always; there's a blind spot as far as Zionism goes) and the final chapter, which places Popper's thought within the current(ish) left-wing context, is interesting.

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無理を承知で読み始めた本です。もう20年以上前からpopperの本の名前は聞いていたけど。popperの著作は読めないけど、伝記ぐらいは読もうと。親切で良心的な著者ですけど、中身の難しさは想像どおりで、途中で投げ出したくなったことも２、3度ありました。やっぱり哲学並びに方法論の部分にくるとわかっているのやら、ただ字面を追っているのやら。popperを取り囲む外部環境の変化の部分にくると、やっと話が理解できるようになって、ほっとするということの繰り返しでした。ＡＳＳＩＭＩＬＡＴＥＤ　ＪＥＷＳの理想としてのハプスブルク体制の崩壊（rothの小説）、とそのコスモポリタニズムの理想を自分の思想体系の中で最後まで求めたPOPPERの困難の一端は味わえたのかな。もう一つは予想もしなかった文脈のずれ（!un!!intended consequences)の中でしか、これほどの大作（open society and its enemies)も受け止められざるを得なかったという皮肉ですね。20世紀初頭のウイーンが投げつける課題の多様さと先鋭さにまた驚かされた次第です。序文によると、この著者はもうpopperの追求は止めて、congress for　cultural freedomの研究に戻るそうです。おいおいそれもまた僕の関心を持っている領域じゃないか。