DESPRE SCHIMBAREA POLITICĂ ÎN SOCIETATEA DESCHISĂ (en)
ON POLITICAL CHANGE IN THE OPEN SOCIETY (en)

Summary/Abstract: In this paper I will limit myself to dealing with an issue that seems particularly overlooked in the debate about Plato and Popper, namely that of political change. I will focus on this question by trying to challenge the assumption that has remained largely unchallenged until now, namely that modern liberal democracy can play the role of the general standard against which we can judge the thinkers of the past. In fact, I will show how, in the Open Society, liberal democracy sets the limits of what counts as «rational» political change, revealing that Popper has a teleological conception of historical development.Furthermore, I will suggest a different interpretation of Plato’s approach to the question of political change, arguing against Popper’s claim that the ultimate goal of the utopian city in the Republic is to eliminate change, by reverting to tribalism. As I will try to show, Plato’s utopian construction gives us some better tools than Popper’s framework for thinking about change in politics.

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