Popper Karl: Karl Popper u potrazi za boljim svijetom

Karl Popper in search of a better world

Lectures and writings from thirty years

With his criticism of utopianism, holism, essentialism, "irrefutable" thinking in general, it is Popper who is the most radical departure from both types of philosophical discourse, both from the one trapped in global-historical schematics and from the positivist idolatry of the existing state. Namely, with Popper, philosophy returns to the topic of the reality of our concrete world and life, in such a way that criticism and change is based on the function of improving life through the measurable institutional construction of a better society, and not on the function of an unverifiable and unrestrained quasi-historical upheaval. In this sense, Popper is needed by Croatian philosophy and science not only as one of the most thorough critics of the already tired Marxism, and not only as one of the most famous protagonists of the ideas of contemporary liberalism, but above all as one of the most successful theoreticians of contemporary democracy, i.e. as a philosopher who in our time has perhaps done the most for the development of democratic thinking in general and vice versa for the recognition of dogmatic opinions and totalitarian tendencies in the entire area of intellectual activity, from the natural and exact sciences to the subject of art and culture.

The book before us is a translation of an instructive collection of Popper's articles, speeches, debates and lectures. In these contributions, we are talking about a mature Popper, usually aimed at the general public, who presents his complex topics in simple language, as he always strived for, and where the freedom and honesty of intelligent insight best protects both from falling into unproductive philosophical triviality and from encouraging irresponsible philosophical pretentiousness. The book In search of a better world comes to us, in the absence of a translation (still) of some of Popper's fundamental works, as a very desirable introduction to various areas of Popper's philosophy, and it will, I believe, be a good incentive not only for philosophical and scientific circles, but also for the Croatian intellectual public in general to improve their knowledge of Popper, which in the case of this philosopher always means something more: improving knowledge about oneself, especially one's own social and cultural constellation, and dynamics, direction, and obstacles in overcoming the obstacles of one's own development. 
dr. Antun Vujić