ABSTRACT
The philosophical writings of Karl Popper possess three outstanding merits: they are bold; they are sane; they are thorough—qualities that are significant in the context of contemporary British philosophy. Popper's The Poverty of Historicism is primarily a work of critical demolition. It is directed at a highly influential, though often disguised and allusive body of doctrines found in varying degrees of completeness and coherence in the works of a number of eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century social thinkers. Two antinomies—two pairs of seemingly inconsistent claims—are curiously combined. First Popper recognizes that it makes an important difference to our attitude to a question, practical or theoretical, if we recognize that it arises within a tradition. Secondly we have Popper's reference to the 'logic of situations,' i.e., his reminder that any actual situation or problem admits of a limited number of possible solutions or of moves such as, so far as can be foreseen, could lead toward a satisfactory solution of it.
