W stronę pragmatycznego konserwatyzmu

Abstrakt

Toward pragmatic conservatism

Philosophical tradition of American pragmatism, and particularly its branch stemming from the works of John Dewey 1859–1952, is usually associated with the liberal or leftist position in political and social philosophy. The aim of this paper is to consider the question whether the basic ideas of Deweyan pragmatism can be reconciled with, and perhaps inspirational for the conservative thinking, where the „conservative thinking” is defined by reference to six basic principles taken from Jacek Bartyzel — a prominent Polish conservative thinker: ethical absolutism opposed to relativism, metaphysical as opposed to dialectical thinking, supranaturalistic humanism opposed to naturalistic humanitarianism, anthropological and historiosophical pessimism opposed to optimism, eschatological as opposed to millenarian thought, politics as social ethics opposed to politics as Machiavellian, utilitarian play of interests.