society; he believes that "the principle of the national state, that is to say, the political demand that the territory of every state should coincide with the territory inhabited by one nation" is a myth, an irrational and Utopian dream of naturalism and tribal collectivism. He briefly discusses the development of the opinions of Fichte, who was one of the founders of German nationalism; then he goes back to criticizing "Hegel's hysterical historicism", which he views as "the fertilizer to which modern totalitarianism owes its rapid growth". In the fifth section, he argues that "nearly all the more important ideas of modern totalitarianism are directly inherited from Hegel". Popper states that "the modern myth of Blood and Soil", which is central to fascist ideology, "has its exact counterpart in Plato's Myth of the Earthborn". Marx's Method Chapter 13, "Marx's Sociological Determinism", is the first of Popper's chapters on Marx. Popper argues that Marx's historical prophecies did not come true, and Marx "misled scores of intelligent people into believing that historical prophecy is the scientific way of approaching social problems". Popper critiques the idea of historical materialism, which is the foundation of Marxist theory, arguing that it is a flawed view of history that assumes, as he had phrased it in chapter 1, "that there are specific historical laws which can be discovered, and upon which predictions regarding the future of mankind can be based". He also argues that historical change is not predetermined and that societies can choose their own path. Finally, Popper argues that the social world is too complex to be studied using the same methods as the natural sciences, and social scientists must use a different method that takes into account the complexity of human behavior and social institutions. Chapter 14, "The Autonomy of Sociology", develops Marx's criticisms of psychologism, the idea that all social laws can be reduced to psychological laws. Popper does this in the form of an extended argument against Mill's version of the idea, explaining at the end of the chapter that he did so because he considered Mill "a worthier opponent than Hegel", who was Marx's real target. He emphasizes the importance of the social environment and its institutions in explaining social phenomena. Popper critiques what he calls the conspiracy theory of society, which is "the view that an explanation of a social phenomenon consists in the discovery of the men or