Long description:

Is the concept of open society still relevant in the 21st century? Do the current social, moral, and political realities call for a drastic revision of this concept? Here fifteen essays address real-world contemporary challenges to open society from a variety of perspectives. What unites the individual authors and chapters is an interest in open society?s continuing usefulness and relevance to address current problems. And what distinguishes them is a rich variety of geographical and cultural backgrounds, and a wide range of academic disciplines and traditions.

While focusing on probing the contemporary relevance of the concept, several chapters approach it historically. The book features a comprehensive introduction to the history and current ?uses? of the theory of open society. The authors link the concept to contemporary themes including education, Artificial Intelligence, cognitive science, African cosmology, colonialism, and feminism. The diversity of viewpoints in the analysis reflects a commitment to plurality that is at the heart of this book and of the idea of open society itself.

"Not much in Open Society Unresolved is surprising, but that is a good thing?let me repeat: that is a good thing. If looked at the concept of open society from within the broader intellectual open society context, there?s nothing new or radical or startling for us to uncover. The distinctive contribution of Royer and Matei?s book is to have reiterated in diverse ways the challenge where to draw a clear boundary line between open society?s friends and foes."
https://www.oezp.at/index.php/OEZP/article/view/4118?Robert Schuett, Austrian Journal of Political Science

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Table of Contents:

Introduction: Open Society Unresolved: Charting the Contested Terrain

Christof Royer

PART I. Philosophical and Theoretical Perspectives on Open Society

Human Nature and the Open Society

Thom Scott-Phillip

In Praise of Coldness: The Open Neighborhood and its Enemies

Rachid Boutayeb

Against Identity: Individuality as the Foundation of Open Society

Gregory Lobo

Empirical Embodiment of Critical Rationalism: Deliberative Theory and Open Society

Gazela Pudar Draško and Predrag Krstić

Open Society as an Achievement: Popper, Gaus, and the Liberal Tradition

Piers Turner

Nozick?s Meta-Utopia as an Open Society

Avery Fox White

Hannah Arendt in the Literature Classroom

Andrea Timar

Can Bergson?s Definition of Open Society Be Useful Today?

Jean-Louis Fabiani

PART II. National and Regional Perspectives on Open Society

The Gender of Illiberalism: New Transnational Alliances against Open Societies in Central and Eastern Europe

Katalin Fábián

Open Society Contested: Liberal Universalism versus Autocratic Functionalism in Hong Kong

Kenneth Ka-Lok Chan

"Sorosoids": Uses of Labeling in Bulgaria

Lyubomir Terziev

An African Background to the Open Society: Ikenga and Ofo Cultic Figures as Structural Representations of the Enterprising Spirit of the Igbo of Nigeria

Nwankwo Nwaeizeigwe

Imagining the Future of Intelligence in Open Societies: Venturing beyond Secrecy and Scientific Prophecy as Totalitarian Modes of Modernity

Anna Eva Grutza

Open Society in Crisis: Making Sense of Public Health and Expert Advice during COVID-19

Tarun Weeramanthri

List of Contributors

Index

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