Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1993. Sectio Philosophica.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 21)

Pavel Fobel: Social-philosophical aspects of modernizing society

It is j)ositive that just now, in the transformative phase of our society, there is an open discussion about the task of developing politics, morality, economics and law, on a philosophical level. In the epicenter of philosophical, and also theoretical interests lie some questions connected with the dilemma of national and civil principles, content and substance of civil society, the modern order of state, democracy, pluralism, asserting humanity, social priorities and national specificities. These questions must be answered in terms of humanistic potential, historical and traditional continuation and integration into Europe. New schools of thinking face the unavoidable confrontation with the developed concept of the western world, searching for new approaches to fellow men and the world as a whole. The questions being asked of Christian-humanitarian traditions, accepting liberalism and understanding its philosophical substance, the character of moral, valuable dynamics of economic reform and its influence on modern, social life are more frequent. At present, the dominant problem surrounds national order, according to the sovereignty which exists and interrogation techniques of the federal unit. Dahrendorf, the German socio-philosopher had his own opinions about it. To him, the existence of freedom and democracy is just a dream if the territorial unit and its methods are not sorted out into a complex, ethnically-minded system before too long.

3 He shows that the shift towards prosperity of our society is only possible if civil and national principles are adhered to. Disunity of opinions and, mainly, politics jeopardizes the change of real democracy. The other questions related to the changes of the subsystems are all about the consequences of the new situation. The most important questions concern the political problems we face, intellectual maturity and the formation, position and culture of an "intellectual peak" in political life, and also penetration through the other spheres of social structure. Unfortunately popularity is wrongly interpreted as plurality by many politicians. Solving the task to secure a contemporary functioning of society is often difficult and alien to their way of life. To create a modern society without adopting the modern way of behavior and a modern way of thinking would be absurd. The key question behind such transformation concerns social factors. By this we mean socially powerful people who are averse to protecting or helping those who take an active part in integrating the logic of the system into society.

4 These antagonists seem to be activists of antisocial behavior who are driven by an interest in power and not an interest in a better society for everyone. 39