George Soros
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Revision as of 19:24, 25 June 2017 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Revision as of 19:25, 25 June 2017 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) Next diff → |
||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
- | '''''The Open Society and Its Enemies''''' is a work on political philosophy by [[Karl Popper]], in which Popper offers a critique of theories of [[teleology|teleological]] [[historicism]], according to which history unfolds inexorably according to universal laws. Popper indicts as totalitarian [[Plato]], [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]], and [[Karl Marx]], for relying on historicism to underpin their political philosophies, though his interpretations of all three philosophers have been criticized. Written during [[World War II]], ''The Open Society and Its Enemies'' was first printed in London by [[Routledge]] in 1945 in two volumes: "The Spell of Plato" and "The High Tide of Prophecy: Hegel, Marx, and the Aftermath". A one volume edition with a new introduction by [[Alan Ryan]] and an essay by [[Ernst Gombrich|E. H. Gombrich]] was published by [[Princeton University Press]] in 2013. The work was on the Modern Library Board's [[Modern Library 100 Best Nonfiction|100 Best Nonfiction]] books of the 20th century. | + | '''George Soros''' (born [[August 12]], [[1930]]) is a [[Hungary|Hungarian]]-born [[United States|American]] businessman. He is famous as a [[currency speculator]] and a [[philanthropist]]. He is also the son of the [[Esperanto]] writer [[Tivadar Soros]]. |
- | ==Publication== | + | Soros was born and lived in Hungary until [[1946]], when he escaped [[Hungary]] for the West by participating in an [[Esperanto youth congress]]. As a young man, Soros traded currencies in the black market during the [[Nazi]] occupation of Hungary. |
- | As Popper was writing in academic obscurity in [[New Zealand]] for the duration of World War II, several other figures in philosophy and the social sciences were involved in its path to publication. Gombrich was entrusted with the main task of finding a publisher; [[Friedrich Hayek]] wanted to get Popper to the [[London School of Economics]] and thus was enthused by his turn to social philosophy; [[Lionel Robbins]] and [[Harold Laski]] reviewed the manuscript. Lastly, [[John Niemeyer Findlay|J.N. Findlay]] suggested the book's ultimate title after three others had been discarded. ('A Social Philosophy for Everyman' was the original title of the manuscript; 'Three False Prophets: Plato-Hegel-Marx' and 'A Critique of Political Philosophy' were also considered and rejected.) | + | |
- | The book was not published in Russia until 1992. | + | Soros emigrated to England in [[1947]] and graduated from the [[London School of Economics]] in [[1952]]. |
+ | In [[1956]], he moved to the [[United States]]. He has stated that his intention was to earn enough money on [[Wall Street]] to support himself as an author and philosopher. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management and of the [[Open Society Institute]]. | ||
- | ==Summary== | + | Soros became instantly famous on September 22, 1992, when, believing the [[Pound Sterling]] was overvalued, he speculated heavily against it. |
- | Popper develops a critique of historicism and a defense of the ''[[open society]]'', [[liberal democracy]]. The subtitle of his first volume, "The Spell of Plato", makes clear Popper's central premise — namely, that most Plato interpreters through the ages have been seduced by his greatness. In so doing, Popper argues, they have taken his political philosophy as a benign idyll, without taking into account its dangerous tendencies toward [[totalitarianism|totalitarian]] ideology. | + | The [[Bank of England]] was forced to withdraw the currency out of the [[European Exchange Rate Mechanism]], and Soros earned an estimated US$1 billion in the process. |
+ | He was dubbed "the man who broke the Bank of England." | ||
+ | In 1997, under similar circumstances, Malaysian Prime Minister [[Mahathir bin Mohamad]] accused Soros of bringing down the [[Malaysia|Malaysian]] currency, the [[ringgit]]. | ||
- | Contrary to major Plato scholars of his day, Popper divorced Plato's ideas from those of [[Socrates]], claiming that the former in his later years expressed none of the [[humanitarian]] and [[democracy|democratic]] tendencies of his teacher. In particular, he accuses Plato of betraying Socrates in the ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'', wherein Plato portrays Socrates sympathizing with totalitarianism (''see: [[Socratic problem]]''). | + | Despite his carefully groomed media image, Soros is a controversial figure because on the one hand, as an international investor and currency speculator, he has become extremely wealthy (his fortune in 2000 was estimated at US$ five billion). |
+ | On the other, he freely acknowledges that the current system of financial speculation undermines healthy economic development in many underdeveloped countries. | ||
- | Popper extols Plato's analysis of social change and discontent, naming him as a great [[sociologist]], yet rejects his solutions. This is dependent on Popper's reading of the emerging humanitarian ideals of [[Athenian democracy]] as the birth pangs of his coveted "open society". In his view, Plato's historicist ideas are driven by a fear of the change that comes with such a liberal worldview. Popper also suggests that Plato was the victim of his own vanity, and had designs to become the supreme [[Philosopher King]] of his vision. | + | Critics point out that Soros plays the currency markets through Quantum Fund, his privately-owned investment fund registered in [[Curaçao]], [[Netherlands Antilles]], a [[Caribbean]] [[tax haven]] which has repeatedly been cited by the International Task Force on Money Laundering of the [[OECD]] as one of the world's most important centers for laundering the illegal proceeds of the Latin American drug trade. |
+ | By operating from Curaçao, Soros avoids paying taxes, and also hides the nature of his investors, and what he does with their money. | ||
- | The last chapter of the first volume bears the same title as the book, and conveys Popper's own philosophical explorations on the necessity of [[liberal democracy]] as the only form of government allowing institutional improvements without [[violence]] and bloodshed. | + | Soros has been active as a philanthropist since [[1979]], when he began providing funds to help black students attend the [[University of Cape Town]] in apartheid [[South Africa]]. Soros' philanthropic funding in [[Eastern Europe]] mostly occurs through the [[Open Society Institute]] and national [[Soros Foundation]]s, which sometimes go under other names, e.g. the [[Stefan Batory Foundation]] in [[Poland]]. |
- | In volume two, "The High Tide of Prophecy: Hegel, Marx, and the Aftermath", Popper criticises Hegel and Marx, tracing back their ideas to [[Aristotle]], and arguing that the two were at the root of 20th century totalitarianism. | + | He received honorary doctoral degrees from the New School for Social Research (New York), the [[University of Oxford]] in [[1980]], the [[Budapest University of Economics]], and [[Yale University]] in [[1991]]. Soros was a student of [[Karl Popper]] and says that his investment strategies are based on a Popperian skepticism about the reliability of any one human belief. |
- | ==Scholarly reception== | + | For many years, Soros did not involve himself greatly in US politics, but that changed under President [[George W. Bush]]. In an interview with ''[[The Washington Post]]'' on [[November 11]], 2003, Soros said that removing Bush from office is the "central focus of my life," and "a matter of life and death." |
- | Philosopher [[Bertrand Russell]] called ''The Open Society and its Enemies'' "a vigorous and profound defence of democracy." Philosopher [[Sidney Hook]] praised ''The Open Society and its Enemies'' as a "subtly argued and passionately written" critique of the "historicist ideas that threaten the love of freedom [and] the existence of an open society". Hook calls Popper's critique of the cardinal beliefs of historicism "undoubtedly sound", noting that historicism "overlooks the presence of genuine alternatives in history, the operation of plural causal processes in the historical pattern, and the role of human ideals in redetermining the future". Nevertheless, Hook argues that Popper "reads Plato too literally when it serves his purposes and is too cocksure about what Plato's 'real' meaning is when the texts are ambiguous", and calls Popper's treatment of Hegel "downright abusive" and "demonstrably false", noting that "there is not a single reference to Hegel in [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]'s ''[[Mein Kampf]]''". | + | Towards that goal, Soros and a partner committed $5 million to [http://www.MoveOn.org MoveOn.org], a liberal activist group, bringing to $15.5 million the total of his personal contributions to oust Bush. |
+ | He has also written a book, ''The Bubble of American Supremacy'', which will be published in January, 2004. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24179-2003Nov10?language=printer] | ||
- | Philosopher [[Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Walter Kaufmann]] believed that ''The Open Society and Its Enemies'' has many virtues, including its attack against totalitarianism, and many suggestive ideas. However, he also found the work to have serious flaws, writing that Popper's interpretations of Plato were flawed and that Popper had provided a "comprehensive statement" of older myths about Hegel. Kaufmann commented that despite Popper's hatred of totalitarianism, Popper's method was "unfortunately similar to that of totalitarian 'scholars'". | + | Soros is married with five children. |
- | Marxist philosopher [[Maurice Cornforth]] defended Marxism against Popper's criticisms in his work ''The Open Philosophy and the Open Society: A Reply to Dr. Karl Popper's Refutations of Marxism''. Though disagreeing with Popper, Cornforth nevertheless called him "perhaps the most eminent" critic of Marxism. Marxist economist [[Ernest Mandel]] identifies ''The Open Society and Its Enemies'' as part of a literature, beginning with German social democrat [[Eduard Bernstein]], that criticizes the dialectical method Marx borrowed from Hegel as "useless", "metaphysical", or "mystifying." He faults Popper and the other critics for what he regards as their "positivist narrowness". | + | ==Books== |
- | Reviewing the book's legacy at the end the 20th century, [[Rajeev Bhargava]] claims that Popper "notoriously misreads Hegel and Marx", arguing also that the formulation Popper deployed to defend liberal political values is "motivated by partisan ideological considerations grounded curiously in the most abstract metaphysical premises". | + | *''The Alchemy of Finance'' (1987) |
+ | *''Opening the Soviet System'' (1990) | ||
+ | *''Underwriting Democracy'' (1991) | ||
+ | *''Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve'' (1995) | ||
+ | *''The Crisis of Global Capitalism'' (1998) | ||
+ | *''Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism'' (2000) | ||
+ | *''George Soros on Globalization'' (PublicAffairs, March 2002) | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==External Links and references== | ||
+ | *[http://www.project-syndicate.org/ Project Syndicate] | ||
+ | *[http://www.soros.org/ The Soros Foundation] | ||
+ | *George Soros, [http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2003/03/13/200303130033.asp "The bubble of American supremacy"], Editorial in [[The Korea Herald]], March 12, 2003. | ||
+ | *[http://www.mindfully.org/WTO/2003/George-Soros-Statesman2jun03.htm Analysis of Soros' role in Eastern Europe] | ||
+ | *[http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/te/1292/1.html Soros viewed as a post-modern philosopher (1)] [http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/te/1292/2.html (2)] | ||
+ | *[http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/07/74948.php Long article with many references] (pro-[[socialist]] point of view) | ||
+ | * George Soros, expanded [http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/12/soros.htm "The bubble of American Supremacy"], Column in the Atlantic Monthly, December 2003. | ||
- | ==Legacy== | ||
- | The [[Open Society Foundations]], created by investor [[George Soros]], are inspired in name and purpose by Popper's book. | ||
- | ==See also== | ||
- | * [[Paradox of voting]] | ||
{{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} |
Revision as of 19:25, 25 June 2017
Related e |
Featured: |
George Soros (born August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-born American businessman. He is famous as a currency speculator and a philanthropist. He is also the son of the Esperanto writer Tivadar Soros.
Soros was born and lived in Hungary until 1946, when he escaped Hungary for the West by participating in an Esperanto youth congress. As a young man, Soros traded currencies in the black market during the Nazi occupation of Hungary.
Soros emigrated to England in 1947 and graduated from the London School of Economics in 1952. In 1956, he moved to the United States. He has stated that his intention was to earn enough money on Wall Street to support himself as an author and philosopher. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management and of the Open Society Institute.
Soros became instantly famous on September 22, 1992, when, believing the Pound Sterling was overvalued, he speculated heavily against it. The Bank of England was forced to withdraw the currency out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, and Soros earned an estimated US$1 billion in the process. He was dubbed "the man who broke the Bank of England." In 1997, under similar circumstances, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad accused Soros of bringing down the Malaysian currency, the ringgit.
Despite his carefully groomed media image, Soros is a controversial figure because on the one hand, as an international investor and currency speculator, he has become extremely wealthy (his fortune in 2000 was estimated at US$ five billion). On the other, he freely acknowledges that the current system of financial speculation undermines healthy economic development in many underdeveloped countries.
Critics point out that Soros plays the currency markets through Quantum Fund, his privately-owned investment fund registered in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles, a Caribbean tax haven which has repeatedly been cited by the International Task Force on Money Laundering of the OECD as one of the world's most important centers for laundering the illegal proceeds of the Latin American drug trade. By operating from Curaçao, Soros avoids paying taxes, and also hides the nature of his investors, and what he does with their money.
Soros has been active as a philanthropist since 1979, when he began providing funds to help black students attend the University of Cape Town in apartheid South Africa. Soros' philanthropic funding in Eastern Europe mostly occurs through the Open Society Institute and national Soros Foundations, which sometimes go under other names, e.g. the Stefan Batory Foundation in Poland.
He received honorary doctoral degrees from the New School for Social Research (New York), the University of Oxford in 1980, the Budapest University of Economics, and Yale University in 1991. Soros was a student of Karl Popper and says that his investment strategies are based on a Popperian skepticism about the reliability of any one human belief.
For many years, Soros did not involve himself greatly in US politics, but that changed under President George W. Bush. In an interview with The Washington Post on November 11, 2003, Soros said that removing Bush from office is the "central focus of my life," and "a matter of life and death." Towards that goal, Soros and a partner committed $5 million to MoveOn.org, a liberal activist group, bringing to $15.5 million the total of his personal contributions to oust Bush. He has also written a book, The Bubble of American Supremacy, which will be published in January, 2004. [1]
Soros is married with five children.
Books
- The Alchemy of Finance (1987)
- Opening the Soviet System (1990)
- Underwriting Democracy (1991)
- Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve (1995)
- The Crisis of Global Capitalism (1998)
- Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism (2000)
- George Soros on Globalization (PublicAffairs, March 2002)
External Links and references
- Project Syndicate
- The Soros Foundation
- George Soros, "The bubble of American supremacy", Editorial in The Korea Herald, March 12, 2003.
- Analysis of Soros' role in Eastern Europe
- Soros viewed as a post-modern philosopher (1) (2)
- Long article with many references (pro-socialist point of view)
- George Soros, expanded "The bubble of American Supremacy", Column in the Atlantic Monthly, December 2003.