The Poverty of Historicism

Why I Picked It Up / How It Read

This is probably my third or fourth read of this book, I read it this time as a part of a book club (it was my recommendation). I picked it up the first time as a part of exploring political philosophy and the applicability of the scientific method on the "social sciences". The book is compact, and concise, and while many find it dry and boring, I valued that it always went straight to the point.

What I Took Away

• I was introduced for the first time to the anti-naturalistic, holistic approach of historicism. Something to explore further
• Popper's explanation of the naturalistic view was excellent and went beyond just previewing the idea he was about to criticize
• I found the argument for the unpredictability of social events a bit lacking, however, Popper goes on in details about that in two other books, so, author execused, but not the book
• Popper's idea of piecemeal engineering resonated with me as I have a personal dislike to radical sudden changes and I hate political action that doesn't take secondary effects in consideration
• Although the idea of piecemeal engineering resonated with me, the book never addressed the argument that the piecemeal approach is too slow and sometimes overturning a disastrous status quo must happen through radical change