波普尔指出，传统政治哲学问错了问题（“谁应统治？”），而他主张用新问题取而代之："It forces us to replace the question: Who should rule? by the new question: How can we so organize political institutions that bad or incompetent rulers can be prevented from doing too much damage?" （这迫使我们用一个新的问题来取代“谁应统治？”这个问题：我们应当如何组织政治机构，以便防止坏的或无能的统治者造成太大的损害？）— The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol 1, Chapter 7"I personally call the type of government which can be removed without violence 'democracy', and the other 'tyranny'." （我个人将那种可以不经暴力而被撤换的政府形式称为‘民主’，而将另一种称为‘专制’。）— Conjectures and Refutations (1963)