A few remarks on the crisis and the need for philosophy of politics Cover Image

Kilka uwag o kryzysie i potrzebie filozofii polityki
A few remarks on the crisis and the need for philosophy of politics

Author(s): Michał R. Węsierski
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, History, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Political history
Published by: Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN
Keywords: philosophy of politics;method of philosophical inquiry;ideas;political thought;crisis;

Summary/Abstract: A philosopher of politics should not be a social engineer, even if he were to dabble in piecemeal engineering, in Popper’s sense; he should rather be a social surveyor, responsible for measuring a plot of land for development, for which politicians should in turn be responsible. That measured land is ordered by a system of philosophical notions and critical studies, together with comments on the history of political thought. One of the outcomes of a philosopher’s work should be an ordered thought, i.e. objective knowledge that includes genesis and evolution of philosophical notions, relationships between ideas, and presentation of the cultural background, from which those ideas originated. In this reconstruction work a philosopher of politics needs to move in between the allowed boundaries of the text under analysis. A philosopher does what others cannot do due to the separation of exact sciences from philosophy. Therefore, a philosopher is not beyond scientific inquiries; he can use them as confidently as representatives of those sciences. It can be argued that a philosopher has a unique position in the social life of every group.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 15
  • Page Range: 151-177
  • Page Count: 27
  • Language: Polish