Tư tưởng chính trị xã hội của karl raimund popper những giá trị và hạn chế về mặt triết học tt tiếng anh

The study of Karl Popper’s political and social philosophical thought, pointing out its contributions will help improve the scientific approach to several theoretical and practical issue

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

DUONG THI PHUONG

THE POLITICAL – SOCIAL THOUGHT OF

KARL RAIMUND POPPER

ITS PHILOSOPHICAL VALUES AND LIMITATION

Major: Philosophy

Major code: 9229001

DOCTORAL THESIS SUMMARY

HA NOI - 2019

The work was completed at the Graduate Academy

of Social Sciences

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Tan Hung

Reviewer 1: Prof Dr Nguyen Trong Chuan

Reviewer 2: Prof Dr Tran Van Phong

Reviewer 3: Prof Dr To Duy Hop

The thesis will be defended in front of the PhD Evaluation Committee at the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences at hour minute, day month year ………

The thesis can be found at the National Library and Library of Social Sciences Academy

HA NOI - 2019

INTRODUCTION

1 The necessity of the thesis topic

Karl Popper was one of the famous philosophers in the world His political and social philosophy contains several new ideas and arguments In our country, although the studies about Karl Popper have increased in number, sofar there has not been any monograph which has been published or any PhD thesis which has been successfully defended on the topic of Karl Popper’s political and social philosophy

In order to foster the innovation of the theoretical task, first of all, the Communist Party of Vietnam pointed out one of its shortcomings and inadequacies: “For the past several years, the main subjects in the training programme of the theoretical research staff has mostly been confined to the Marxist - Leninist sciences and not much importance has been attached to the study of other trends and

to thereception of the world’s scientific achievements” The Resolution of the Political Bureau (in 2014) indicated the direction:

“Expand and intensìfy the study of new ideological trends, doctrines and theories with an objective and dialectical approach and acquire progressive values”

Thus the study of Karl Popper’s political and social

philosophical thought corresponds to the line of innovation of the

Communist Party of Vietnam It will have a dual effect: firstly, a contribution to the development of the branch of History of Philosophy in Vietnam, and secondly, the reception of the progressive values in these philosophical trends in sevice of the

building of socialism in our country

The study of Karl Popper’s political and social philosophical thought, pointing out its contributions will help improve the scientific approach to several theoretical and practical issues, innovate the method of studying and teaching of the Marxist – Leninist subjects, promote the role of critical thinking, widen democracy and foster the creative role of all individuals in the building of an open society and in the international integration of our country At the same time, the detection of the limitations in Karl Popper’s political and social philosophy will be a contribution to the protection of the theoretical values in the Marxist – Leninist philosophy and the political line of the Communist Party of Vietnam

For these reasons, we chose “The Political - Social Thought of

Karl Raimund Popper Its Philosophical Values and Limitations”as

the topic of our philosophical doctoral thesis

2 Aim and objectives

The aim of the thesis is to systematically study and analyze to clarify the basic contents of the political - social philosophical thought of Karl Popper, thereby pointing out its philosophical values and limitations

In order to accomplish the above aim, the thesis needs to perform the following tasks:

- Study Karl Popper's life and works; the historical cỉrcumstances and the theoretical preconditions for the forming of his political - social philosophical thought

- Clarify the basic contents of the political - social philosophical thought of Karl Popper, including his view on social liberalism; his

critique of historicism; his concept and method of building of the open society

- Analyze the philosophical values of Karl Popper's political - social thought to inherit and apply them in the theoretical and practical activities, and point out its limitations in order to protect the correctness of Marxism - Leninism

3 Object and scope of research

The research object of the thesis is Karl Popper’s political and social philosophical thought The scope of the thesis is his thought in

the two works "The Poverty of Historicism" and "The Open Society

and Its Enemies"

4 Theoretical basis and research methodology

The thesis is based on the theoretical foundation of Marxism - Leninism; Ho Chi Minh's thought and the view and line of the Communist Party of Vietnam The research methodology of the thesis is the dialectical materialism and historical materialism In addition, the thesis also uses a combination of specific methods, such

as logic and history, analysis and synthesis, systematization, comparison, the hermeneutic method, the critical method, etc

5 New findings of the thesis

In terms of content: The thesis clarifies some important aspects

in the political - social philosophical thought of Karl Popper, analyzes and points out its philosophical values and limitations as well as the possibility to relate and apply them in the theoretical and practical activities

In terms of method: The thesis offers an objective assessment

both in terms of philosophical contributions and limitations of Karl Popper, overcoming the one-sided criticism as before

6 Theoretical and practical significance of the thesis

The thesis contributes to the study of the history of the philosophical thought of modern Western schools to inherit their reasonable points to supplement Marxism - Leninism, and to criticize its mistakes to protect the correctness of the Marxist - Leninist philosophy The thesis can be used as a reference for the studying and teaching of the the history of modern Western philosophies

7 Structure of the thesis

Chapter 1: Overview of the studies related to the thesis topic Chapter 2: Background and preconditionss for the forming of the social - political philosophical thought of Karl Popper

Chapter 3: Basic contents in the political - social philosophical thought of Karl Popper

Chapter 4: Philosophical contributions and limitations in the political - social thought of Karl Popper

CHAPTER 1

LITERATURE REVIEW

The thesis was done based on the studies of the original works

of Karl Popper including “The Open Society and Its enemies” (2 volumes) and “The Poverty of Historicism” The thesis also referred

to some of his other works, such as “Autobiography”, “Objective

Knowledge”, “The Logic of Scientific Discovery” In addition, the

thesis inherited the research results of some domestic and international studies on Karl Popper, which were classified according

to the request of each chapter in the thesis

1.1 Studies related to the historical context, theoretical preconditions, the life and works of Karl Popper

1.1.1 Studies related to the context of the forming of the political - social philosophical thought of Karl Popper

The "Autobiography" by Karl Popper, with his deep

phiosophical reflections in it, is an important and valuable document which really helps study the historical context of the forming of his political - social philosophical thought, his life and scientific works Besides, there are some other relating documents, such as the works

on the history of Western modern philosophy by Gilles Dostaler, Luu Phong Dong Ly Quoc Tu, etc., and some online encyclopedias and documents

1.1.2 Studies related to the theoretical preconditions for the forming of the political - social philosophicalthought of Karl Popper

Among the studies relating to the theoretical preconditions for the forming of Karl Popper’s political - social philosophical thought,

there are: "Hayek's Liberalism" by Gilles Dostaler, which refered to

the mutual influences on thought between F Hayek and K Popper;

"Bertrand Russell's Philosophy and its Significance" by Vu Manh

Toan which presents the content of positivism and its effects on Karl

Popper; "Some Contemporary Western Philosophical Trends and

Political Ideologies" by Nguyen Tan Hung, which argues that the

forming of Karl Popper's political - social philosophical thought was

a result of a long process of comparing, constrasting and selecting

with thorough consideration after his contact with all the prevailing ideological trends in Austria at that time

1.1.3 Studies mentioning the life and scientific works of Karl Popper

Some dictionaries and encyclopedias such as the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Vietnam; the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the Wiki free encyclopedia (Wikipedia), the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the Britannica Encyclopedia and the New Philosophical Encyclopedia (Russian), etc., all have reserved an important part in Karl Popper article for the basic information about his life and works

1.2 Studies related to the political - social philosophical thought of Karl Popper

1.2.1 Some studies mentioning Karl Popper's social liberal stance

In his "Autobiography", Karl Popper talked about his liberal stance and the reason for the transfer of his thought from

communism to liberalism Nguyen Tan Hung in "Some

Contemporary Western Philosophical Trends and Political Ideologies" devoted a part for Karl Popper's political and social

thought The author points out some of the characteristics of liberalism in general to understand what "social liberalism" is

1.2.2 Studies related to Karl Popper‘s concept of the open society

Herbert Keuth spent one of the three parts of his book "The

Philosophy of Karl Popper" (In part II of Social philosophy)

analyzing the political and social philosophical thought of Karl Popper, including the open society and historicism

M Cornforth spent chapter III of the book "TheOpen Philosophy

and The Open Society" answering issues about the relationship

between the open society and the closed society and the path to the open society In chapter VI of the work, M Cornforth gives Karl Popper an answer about the enemy of the open society Ly Quoc Tu

in chapter IV of "Karl Raimund Popper" mentions the concept of the open society in Karl Popper's "The Open Society and its Enemies"

The author generalized the basic concept of Popper about the open and closed society It can be said that this is a source of material for

us to study Popper's concept of the open society

Luu Phong Dong in "Modern Western Philosophy" vol IV,

mostly analyzes Popper's philosophical thought of science; however,

he has a short paragraph about the political philosophical thought of Karl Popper

Luong Dinh Hai in the article "Karl Popper – The Open society

and its enemies" concretely presents Karl Popper’s conception of the

open society and the closed society The author also shows some Marxist points of view that Popper criticizes, then makes his comments on these points

1.2.3 Studies related to Karl Popper's criticism of historicism

Nguyen Tan Hung in his paper on Karl Popper published in the

Seminar Proceedings on Austrian Philosophy and in his work "Some

Western Contemporary Philosophical Trends and Political Ideologies" explained the concept of "historicism" and defined the

connotation of this concept with its main characteristics The author delved into Karl Popper’s 5-point argument for the denial of the

possibility of social law awareness The author also pointed out the rational as well as the false aspects of Karl Popper’s view on this issue

Ly Quoc Tu in ‘Karl Raimund Popper” devoted a great part to

present Karl Popper’s views on the criticism of historicism, on his piecemeal social technology The author delved into the above concepts of Karl Popper Finally, the author presented his remarks on these concepts It can be said that this is a precious source of reference which supports our research and is included in our thesis

Nguyen Minh Hoan in article: “Karl Popper’s Political

Philosophy in ‘The Povery of Historicism’ from the viewpoint of Macxit methodology” made an essential analysis of Popper’s

political philosophical views It can be said that in this quite short paper, the author gave a basic generalisation of Popper’s political philosophical view and made valuable comments which contributed

to clarifying Popper’s ideas in his criticism of historicism

1.3 Studies concerning the evaluation of the philosophical contributions and limitations in Karl Popper’spolitical - social thought

1.3.1 Studies concerning the evaluaton of the philosophical contributions of Karl Popper’s political and social thought

Luong Dinh Hai in“Karl Popper: TheOpen Society and Its

Ememies” stated that the study of Popper’s views and arguments can

help us to grasp many Marxist theoretical standpoints and the whole

of Marxism in general Moreover, it can help us to understand the viewpoints of contemporary Marxist researchers Studying his works helps us to form a 2-sided outlook; two-dimensional thinking; and

meditation with both eyes and both ears That helps us obtain deeper understanding of not only Marxist principles but also Karl Popper’sreasonable arguments as well as some inedequate points in his thought

1.3.2 Studies concerning the evaluation of some philosophical limitations in Karl Popper’spolitical and social thought

Maurice Cornforth in his work “The Open Philosophy and Open

Society” strongly criticized Karl Popper’s theory of the open

society and Popper’s criticism of hítoricism in order to support Marxism Cornforth rejected Karl Popper’s accusation that Marxism

is the “closed philosophy” and his sophist argument to reject the dialectical reasoning

Nguyen Tan Hung in his work ‘Some Western Contemporary

Philosophical Trends and Political Ideologies” pointed out some of

Karl Popper’s limitations: He completely rejected the dialectical reasoning which is in reality a significant achievement of mankind, and as a result, he took a metaphysical approach to several problems

He did not know how to combine the holistic and the piecemeal approaches in thinking and reality He stressed the relativity of knowledge wich resulted in his complete denial of the absoluteness

of Karl Popper’s philosophy of the open society anf of his criticism

of historicism have not been referred to fully and sytematically Therfore, the task of our thesis is to conduct further studies, analyzing the political and social philosophical viewpoints of Karl Popper; pointing out the contributions and limitations in his political and social philosophy

CHAPTER 2

BACKGROUND AND PRECONDITIONSFOR THE FORMING OF KARL POPPER‘S POLITICAL-SOCIAL

PHILOSOPHICALTHOUGHT 2.1 The economic, political and social background

Karl Popper was born and grew up in the period of social fluctuations caused by the serious economic crisis called “Great Regression” The Austrian – Hungarian Empire was consecutively defeated in the war leading to political crisis in Austria Chaos, unemployment, inflation and social evils happened in Vienna People here lived in abject poverty

The period from 1918 to 1933 was the high tide of “Red Vienna” Karl Popper took part in the student socialist association and became a communist However, after witnessing the death in a violent conflict between the communist demonstrators and Vienna policemen, he left communism and began criticizing Marxism Since 1933, fascism emerged in Germany and Austria With his astute political vision, Karl Popper recognized the real essence of the Grman Nazi from the beginning In 1937, at the rapid development

of fascism in Germany and Austria and the risk of annexation

of Austria into Nazi Germany, he felt that he could not continue

living in his hometown and he deciđed to leave Austria for New Zealand After the World War II, his family settled in London, there

he worked as a Professor at London School of Economics

2.2 Natural scientific preconditions for the forming of Karl Popper’s political - social philosophy

2.2.1 The influence of indeterminism on Karl Popper’s liberalism and his philosophy of the open society

The ‘Uncertainty Principle’ was announced in 1927 by German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976) According to this principle, it is impossible to determine both position and momentum of an electron simultaneously The Uncertainty principle

in quantum physics is the scientific foundation for indeterminsm in philosophy Based on the liberal stance, Karl Popper harshly criticized determinism and advocated for indeterminism However,

he still realized there was something unfair in indeterminism As a matter of fact, determinism and indeterminism both have their unilateral characteristics

2.2.2 The influence of the theory of evolution on Karl Popper’s social philosophy

Karl Popper inherited Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, but

he applied it in accordance with his principle “Trial and error

elimination” (Trial and Error) The evolution of knowledge was studied in his work entitled “Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary

Approach” His idea of the social evolution with his principle “Trial

and Error” were applied in his work entitled “TheOpen Society and

Its Ememies”

2.2.3 The influence of Albert Einstein’s theory of Relativity on Karl Popper’ political - social philosophy

It can be said that the most importand and the most durable influence is the influence of Einstein’s scientific theory Einstein’s attitude towards his own theory had a strong impression on Popper Einstein had never considered his theory as a dogmas, but he emphasized the role of practical testing It is Einstein’s willing attitude to accept criticism and rejection for his theory that became a methodological basis for K Popper’s falsiability principle as a criteria of the demarcation between scientific and non-scientific theories

2.3 Philosophical and sociological preconditions for the forming of Karl Popper’s political - social philosophy

2.3.1 The influence of the Vienna circle’s logical positivism

It can be defined that positivism is a philosophical trend which only believed in “positive knowledge” and rejected all kinds of knowledge which cannot be proved by logic, observation, and experiment

It was the French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798 - 1857) who initiated the first form of positivism The second form of positivism was called “empirio-criticism”, the main representatives

of which were E Mach (1838 – 1916) and R Avenarius (1843 – 1896) The third form was the Vienna circle’s positivism called

“logical positivism” Positivism was one of the important

preconditions for the forming of Karl Popper’s philosophy of science,

which helped merge him with the trend of philosophy of science in the 20th century Karl Popper shared some views with logical