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The Author presents selected consequences of democracy from the perspective of the Christian idea of man and society. Though Christian Democracies may sometimes seem to be ideologically burned up, they still remain the most interesting, mature and modern alternatives which bring the best results to nations where they rule. The Author claims that Christian democracy which is based on personalism should be widely considered because of its prosperous results.
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The article approaches selected aspects of the correlation between justice and law, which – according to him – ought be reflected philosophically. Undertaken analyses aim at answering to following questions: how can injustice be minimized in individual and social life; how can one defend against it? It seems that the most effective protector of justice is philosophical realism both in theory and in practice, as realism enables the most primordial understanding of man, society, and culture (law included). Therefore the realistic philosophy seems to be philosophia perennis that will never collapse. Even if it sometimes is overwhelmed by other more popular currents, realism in philosophy will last. There is, however, a set of questions about realism in social, psychological, legal, political, and even medical sciences.
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Scientific studies on the history of democracy demonstrate that there is no democracy as such, and all its types are specified with by-names, like socialist, of people, national, Christian, personalistic, or even totalitarian. At the same time conceptual analysis and exercise of democracy seem to demonstrate that democracy is a utopia, and each utopia is necessarily featured with being unrealizable. As far back as Aristotle realized that there was no ideal – mechanically applicable – form of government, which so to say automatically could liberate man from evil. As it was demonstrated by F. Koneczny, in the human life – that of individual and of society – everything depends on a man, on his knowledge and will, and the only warranty of human conversion is his moral progress. Nobody but the upright man, rooted in the real world with his work and conducted with the principle of personalism, can be protected against utopism and give the realistic sense to such words as democracy or politeia.
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The Author presents the profile of Dietrich von Hildebrand. His philosophy can be qualified as a neo-Augustinian philosophy. An advantage of such philosophy is its maximalism, which is not a feature of philosophy any longer in present days. Its maximalism manifests itself, at most, in declarations of E. Husserl (who was a real inspiration for Hildebrand) who tried to realize the postulate of “the return to things themselves” and that of “the first and the last philosophy”. Moreover, its essential value consists in referring to the great tradition of classical philosophy and its deeply humanistic character. The thought of Hildebrand, however, seems to have few problem points such as its inclination to Platonic idealism and separationism, reluctance to the integrality of philosophical object, and a-causality which does not permit to grasp any bases of the relation between things.
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Considering requirements of system as such, an aesthetic sub-system should respect orders given by politicians, but politicians should also respect requirements of artists. There are some reductions, however, in their mutual support that generate oppositions in the global milieu. Relations between these two sub-systems should be subordinated to a general process of optimalization so that one sub-system could not dominate over the other, but live in a mutual feedback. The feedback between art and politics is something necessary for a global system of our civilization. That is why within the system approach the democratic system and the system of art depend somehow on one another.
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In this paper the author exposes some serious problems concerning Kant’s answer to the problem of nature and evil in “Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan point of View.” He also traces his treatment and reformulation of this problem in other works. Ultimately, he argues that Kant’s concept of nature is incompatible with his concept of God. The author demonstrates that there are two main sources of Kant’s error: (1) a misapplication of the principle of teleology, and (2) a misinterpretation of history with respect to man’s nature.
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In spite that the twentieth-century American pedagogy carries along the optimistic faith in man and his abilities, this faith from times of the Enlightenment began to transform into the unhealthy haughtiness and hubris in the face of the objectively existing order of nature. The Authoress claims that some important factor exerted its significant influence on the character of the American mentality. It is the political system which governs American country – liberal democracy which is the product of the Enlightenment and its epoch. In the face of the critical situation of American educational system the special responsibility rests on the university. It exists in order to “prevent this democratic blindness or to heal it”. Accordingly it should not make for the public opinion, but must be based on philosophy, theology and literary classics, where from it can draw tools to fight with dogmatism. It will permit the university to avoid attitudes characteristic in democratic system, which are popularity and “being up-to-date”.
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The author analyzes the philosophical discussion on realism which was held by Thomists in order to prevent from confusions produced by those in modern history who failed to grasp a crucial difference between species as impressa or quo, and species as expressa or in quo. His reflections enable to understand that realism can conform to reality as a social construction without losing its ability to demonstrate that human mind is open for cognizing things in themselves and in part independently from social constructions. The second part of his work is dedicated to following topics: (a) Exposing the quo/quod fallacy: from untenable dyad to a necessary triad, and (b) the world of things in principle knowable as they are.
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Today a common opinion prevails that with a collapse of communist states, including that of Soviet Union as their head, the communist era has reached its end. It turns out, however, that communism has not collapsed, but with leaving aside a traditional Marxism it has mutated into a form of neo-Marxism. The core of actually being made neo-Marxist revolution consists in bringing down capitalist states by using no physical force, but revolutionizing any culture in a peaceful way. This peaceful revolution is to be a long-lasting process of transforming the social mentality; process, which aims at civilizational dechristianization so that the Western society voluntarily reject its traditional values and identify with new socialist ones.
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The Authoress presents the idea of education in the thought of Antonio Rosmini Serbati. He was one of the most outstanding Italian thinkers of XIX century, and thanks to the universalism of his doctrine – also the key-figure of modern philosophy. The literary output of Rosmini referred to many spheres of human live. Education took a special place in his thought because of his interest in the improvement of man, as well as his engagement into educational activity. His interest in education was originated already in first years of his grammar-school (1808-1814), and lasted until his death (1855). It was the effect of the maturity of his mind, his cultural and scientific formation, and also “a sign of times.”
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The article advances such arguments for why democracy needs religion as: (1) The oaths of office and US courts are expressions of some of the reasons why democracy needs religion in that the oaths invoke God as a needed standard of truth, justice, and morality that is transcendent to the republic. (2) Religion is necessary, but the state should not establish a religion, though the people's belief in the immortal soul, since it is the root of all-important notions of human dignity, freedom, and equality, should be supported by the state. (3) Without religious grounds, there would be no foundational truth upon which to base grave moral decisions, and without sound moral decisions, all people would not be able to pursue life, liberty, and happiness as they should. (4) Religion defines ideas that help people remain firm in their personal and political resolve so that they do not fall prey to a totalitarian regime. (5) Religion helps curb the actions of materialistic greed and hedonism that inhibit all people from flourishing in a true democracy.
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The history of philosophy and its methodological topics happened to be the important sphere of interests of Wojciech Dzieduszycki. In the history of philosophy he sought what is timeless, true, invariable, so that we qualify as perennial philosophy (philosophia perennis). For Dzieduszycki the inseparable feature of the history of philosophy consist in estimating philosophy itself, in attempting to evaluate it. Truth is the criterion of such evaluation. He comprehended truth as irrelative value: truth always remains truth, with no regard of circumstances or conditions. In the history of ancient philosophy he showed philosophy as the process of bringing human thought closer to truth. He thought that any estimation of a philosophical system was never a final estimation, because truth is accessible for man only in human limited dimension. The estimation of a philosophical system cannot be any absolute estimation, because of the imperfection of human knowledge and its permanent development.
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The present democracy is based on a controversial liberal vision of man the egoist who is primarily good and uncontaminated with the original sin. In this way there are negated both social and spiritual dimensions of human nature, with regard for which man advances his potentiality in social context. This leads – when reinforced with a defective form of government – to the deficiency or permanent deformation of human moral and intellectual conduct. When the false assumption is accepted that of his nature man is perfect, then he needs no society (in a positive sense) and other people are treated as means to an end, or challengers, or threatening agents. Any relation between individual and society is exclusively considered in respect of individual profits. Consequently, the politics is deprived of any higher spiritual life that unites people (common good) beyond material (economic) differences. The social teaching of the Catholic Church underlines that healthy democracy has to be based on freedom combined with responsibility. Relations between people are not to be reduced to ruthless competition, but based on the idea of solidarity (love and brotherhood). Eventually, people have to make – within different associations – one family (combined with a common good), which permits everybody – with cementing human relationship – to pursue complete personal advancement.
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In American English there is an expression to convey that someone may love another in spite of his or her defects. We say, “I love so-and-so, warts and all,” a wart being a distracting blemish on someone’s appearance. An honest appraisal of American democracy must take into account its blemishes as well as its pleasant features. The author attempts that appraisal as an American who also happens to love his country. Any effort to explain a society requires an examination of its three dimensions: culture, economics, and politics. He respects this triad as he discusses central features of American democratic society, focusing on its strengths and weaknesses. In conclusion, the author says that the founders of the American nation understood that every society, including their own, is an Augustinian project. Since human beings are not angels, they require a government that separates its powers and provides checks and balances. Moreover, human beings require a society that pays attention not only to public virtue but to private virtue as well. This latter requires a moral and religious culture where one generation embraces its ancestral obligation to transmit moral standards to the next generation. The founders knew that America would not be perfect. But they appreciated that nothing has constructive energies like a purposeful, intelligently led democratic society.
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The radical criticism of democracy in Plato’s philosophy, and the realistic approach to it in the philosophy of Aristotle, as well as the attempt of adopting its merits to create the optimal political system of the state seem to suggest that each concrete political system is connected with objective circumstances, such as its correctness and goodness. Democracy cannot be the aim for itself, it cannot be absolutized, on the contrary – it must be estimated how it serves to realize the good life of all citizens of a political community, and if necessary it must be corrected, even changed into other system, more suitable to the circumstances. The ancient philosophers show that when certain objective conditions are neglected then every political system is endangered by its degeneration.
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The article describes features of utopism and current democracy, and entails on their mutual relationship. Such utopian features as materialism, terrism, immanency, manipulation, censorship (political correctness), depersonalization, and non-familiality, seem to depict the modern democracy. A closer reflection leads to a conclusion that the contemporary democracy transfers catchwords of the communism which strove for putting its utopia into effect. While methods have been modified, the purpose is still the same: forming new man according to utopian (a priori) vision. The contemporary democracy seems to use utopian means, and to endeavour after realizing utopian ends. For instance, while the end of material welfare is embraced by doctrines of political parties, the utopian methods of manipulation are applied in propaganda, political marketing, and the current censorship of political correctness.
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In memoriam to Milan Kangrga (1923-2008.)
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Interview with the philosopher Mihail Gradinaru in Iasi, Romania. The interview was taken by the TV BIT reporter just a week before the philosopher's death
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