Abstract

The theoretical model of the open society was and remains a fruitful way of reflecting the essential links within a democratic society. Analyzing this concept from its rationality, the author tries to highlight its fundamental principles and determine their impact on the form and content of the functioning of education. The article offers a view of K. Popper’s “open society” as a way to implement the principles of criticism, of fallibility, egalitarianism as principles of social rationality. The connection between these principles, moral obligations, and the humanistic theory of justice is emphasized. Their socio-philosophical and epistemological realization in the context of educational issues is covered. The paper considers problems of state intervention in educational processes, the definition of educational goals, the methodology of social reforms. The article also outlines the problem of defining the boundaries of regulation of the educational process in the value system of open society. This discussion is interpreted in terms of the theory of rationality as an attempt to avoid the extremes of absolutism and relativism. Emphasis is placed on the prospects of using the critical-rationalist methodology, in the context of education and development of skills necessary for participation in democratic processes. Particular attention is paid to the problematic aspects of the implementation of the rational principles and values of the open society in the educational environment and in the process of reforming the education system in the absence of a constant critical and rationalist tradition. The paper emphasizes the importance of critical thinking in the prospect of implementing these transformations. The importance of scientific, logical and methodological, psychological and pedagogical aspects of critical thinking is emphasized; the author tries to comprehend the problematic aspects of the implementation of these principles in the process of implementing reforms in the field of education.