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

politics are not determined beforehand. Therefore they cannot be the aim, but the means for correction. This German socio-philosopher warns us of radical system changes, but simultaneously recommends that we apply system structural changes which lead to the civic society and elimination of central control, which is desirable. Democracy is not simply a matter of pluralism. Neither is it a transferral of power. He defines democracy as a principle change of operation recognizing the authority of the citizen in relation to the state power. Comprehension of a modern society as an open civil society leads to the logical conclusions that a substantial understanding of its mechanisms and functions is necessary, especially in a modern, industrial, civil society. So we must respect that our society's transformation is from the totalitarian society to one of modern civicism. The theoretical question has a principle sense. The mechanism behind the modern social system is not about simple conceptional differentiation, but more about various approaches in which to express the system. They complement each other in an understanding of the substance, signs and context of creating a new social system. But at the same time, it is necessary to emphasize that an open society is a pre-condition for a modern, civil society. The term "open society", introduced by Popper, is used to describe the cultural, historical and political systems characterized by various societies. Terms such as democratization, censure and simplicity of change and their adoption by outer-world societies are placed opposite "dogmatic", "authoritative", "totalitarian" and "static society".

6 The problems of civic society are discussed relatively widely. They are discussed in philosophical works of Ferguson, Smith, J. J. Rousseau and more often G. W. F. Hegel. Later A. Gramsci, R. Dahrendorf, K. Popper, and the others. The term "civic society" denotes a simplicity of characteristics — a real democracy based on increasing subjectivity and effective market economics. Dahrendorf expresses the opinion that the civic society is not built but it is independently developed and its actual existence shows confidence in political and economic reform. The principle signs of this confidence are the existence of independent organizations and institutions which are the link between the individual and the government, the existence of retail trade projects, their economic and legal support, the function of a mass information system, the existence of an intellectual peak, independent of the critical bearing and power of the government, civic legality, not only in the legal sense but also from the view that economic equality is most important. 41