A Guide to The Poverty of Historicism (The Popular Popper Book 2)

This guide, the second in the Popular Popper series, is an introduction to "The Poverty of Historicism", which Popper wrote in New Zealand during World War II. Popper wanted to improve the methods of the social sciences to promote peace, freedom and prosperity, emulating the function of the natural sciences and technology to increase the productive capacity of the earth. The central theme of the book is Popper’s critique of the myth of historical destiny and historical determinism; that is, the idea that history is beyond human control. The book also contains the first development of his ideas on situational and institutional analysis which support an alternative “Austrian” research program for economics and the human sciences.