A Theoretical Study On Karl Popper's Piecemeal Social Engineering

Karl Raimund Popper (1902-1994), an English Austrian Jew, is the contemporary most famous philosopher, socialist, and the creator of critical rationalism. He was born into an intellectual's family in Vienna, Austria, on June 28, 1902. Popper has provided us with plentiful philosophical works and philosophical theories and ideas during his 70 years' hard work. His The open Society and its Enemies published in 1945, and The Poverty of Historicism published in 1957 are regarded as the greatest classic works about political ideas in this the 20th century.The present thesis approaches from the analysis of The open Society and its Enemies and The Poverty of Historicism these two books. It expounds and explores the rationality of those theories in these two books, and tries to analyze their theoretical significance, and the implications and reference uses they have toward the construction of socialist modernization and theoretical innovation in our country.The whole thesis consists of four parts. Part One introduces the historical background of Popper's theory of piecemeal social engineering. Part Two expounds the theoretical basis of Popper's theory of piecemeal social engineering. Part Three mainly expounds Popper's theory of piecemeal social engineering. It covers the following six aspects: criticisms on totalitarianism, the poverty of historicism, closed society and open society, Utopian engineering and piecemeal social engineering, the rationality of piecemeal social engineering, and criticisms on piecemeal social engineering. Part Four provides some thoughts on the theoretical significance of Popper's theory of piecemeal social engineering, and the practical significance it has toward the construction of socialist modernization and theoretical innovation in our country.Although, there are some shortcomings within Popper's theory of piecemeal social engineering, it is still of great significance to think about its theories.