Secular and Religious Worldviews and Democratic Modernization
Secular and Religious Worldviews and Democratic Modernization

Summary/Abstract: Secular and religious worldviews constitute the essential elements of culture greatly influencing, in and through their interaction, all facets of social life. On the basis of a particular culture life-world, the efforts of theoretical and practical reason, as well as the judgment faculty, produce a variety of worldview forms ranging from everyday understanding of reality, its mythological and religious portrayal up to artistic, moral, historical, scientific and philosophical visions of reality. In the traditional societies, religious worldviews constitute the core element of the legitimation basis for the political order. In the Anglo-Saxon world, protestant ethics facilitated the establishment of democracy. However, with the coming of Modernity and the rise of democracy, the new political reality demands for a rational philosophical justification that might be acceptable for any citizen irrespective of his or her adherence to a particular secular or religious worldview. Despite A. MacIntyre’s negative evaluation of this change, it was completely legitimate. The contemporary democratic modernization proves that in order to be effective, general democratic principles should be contextualized within the milieu of traditions and worldviews prevailing in this or that area of the world. At the same time, the democratic establishment should stay at a certain distance from the particular secular and religious worldview influences.

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