The political thought of Karl Popper

Jeremy Shearmur draws upon archival data to introduce Popper's political ideas by way of a discussion of their development. He goes on to present a critical survey of some of the themes from Popper's The Open Society and its Enemies and The Poverty of Historicism, along with a discussion of the political significance of some of his later philosophical ideas.

The book then draws on wider themes within Popper's philosophy to offer striking critical re-interpretations of his ethical ideas, and of his social theory, and concludes with an extended discussion that suggests Popper's views should have been closer to classical liberalism than they were.