WHY CRITICISM AND THE OPEN SOCIETY EMERGED: TOWARD A THEORY OF MIND-CULTURE INTERACTION

Abstract

Central to Popper's philosophy is the existence of intellectual criticism and the open society. These however are not innate to the human mind or human society. Like writing they are something which has developed with the rise of civilization. Given their central place in Popper's philosophy it is important to explore why and when they arose. Popper has answered the second question: criticism started with the sixth century B.C. Ionian philosophers and the open society first developed fully in fifth century .Classical Greece. But why should have they emerged with the Greeks rather than say with the ancient Chinese, Egyptians or even at all? In regard to this problem, Popper has not given a satisfactory explanation. I am working on a theory of mind/culture interaction which seeks to answer this problem. I conjecture that the Greek alphabet had an important rule (due to recently discovered neuropsychological properties unique to it) in inhibiting the use of ideas by people for social bonding. By inhibiting the social use of ideas it freed them for intellectual critical examination.