Question Are there any good critical discussions, if not refutations, of communism, especially its philosophical concepts, e.g. theory of knowledge, communist materialism, dialectics etc.?

Accepted:
May 13, 2010

Comments

Probably Karl Popper's work comes the closest. Get his book (I believe in two volumes) on the enemies of a free society. His work was taken seriously by eastern Europeans who were under the authority of the Soviet Union. Popper provided them with an alternative perspective by which to offer a critique of communism. Popper's work is systematic and fair (except in the case of his critique of Plato, which I believe to be based on a partial misreading of Plato) and historical. A book that is less historical but is profoundly anti-collectivism (and thus communism) is Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia. The latter is full of great arguments, colorful examples, and well worth a slow read.

Question Are there any good critical discussions, if not refutations, of communism, especially its philosophical concepts, e.g. theory of knowledge, communist materialism, dialectics etc.? Accepted:May 13, 2010

Question Are there any good critical discussions, if not refutations, of communism, especially its philosophical concepts, e.g. theory of knowledge, communist materialism, dialectics etc.?

Accepted:
May 13, 2010