Relativism and the Soul of the West Cover Image

Relatywizm i Dusza Zachodu
Relativism and the Soul of the West

Author(s): Paweł Ćwikła
Subject(s): Anthropology, Social Sciences, Culture and social structure
Published by: Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL & Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II
Keywords: cultural relativism; political correctness; intellectuals; tolerance; Enlightenment;

Summary/Abstract: The article is dedicated to the interrelation of social and philosophical ideas and the social reality on the example of relations between Western culture (with European culture taken as the main exemplification of it here), and other cultures, which representatives has been living in Europe already or are trying to settle down here.I draw attention to the fact that there are being created too many theories associated with forms of organization of the social order that do not take into account their feasibility in the real world. Their are the intellectuals who are the authors of the ideas – a special category of people who play an important role in live of society of the West.As a starting point it was taken here the famous phrase attributed (wrongly) to Voltaire, who was to say: „I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. Voltaire is the kind of an example of the philosophers-writers of the Enlightenment, who might be precursors of contemporary intellectuals implementing new, „correct” ideas to the world of policy and legislation; the ideas that make, that the West is gradually but steadily losing its ties with their own history and tradition, losing identity and replacing the foundations of its culture by the abstraction which is devoid of the soul.

  • Issue Year: 43/2015
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 217-249
  • Page Count: 33
  • Language: Polish