ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses what the Open Society is supposed to be and thus the idea of liberty which it embodies. Karl Popper largely defines the Open Society by contrast with a closed society. Popper implies that the attributes of the one do not apply to the other, although he acknowledges that the group-spirit of tribalism is not entirely lost in modem, open societies but remains in friendship, comradeship, "youthful tribalistic movements," certain clubs and adult societies, and in moments of conflict and crisis. Popper is right to locate the problem in the very critical dualism which defines the Open Society. In the addendum to The Open Society and Its Enemies, Popper, in line with Anglo-American liberalism rather than the esprits forts of the Continent, tried to protect his critical dualism of facts and decisions or standards against the relativist self-destruction which it appears to engender.
