The restoration of Polish independence was preceded by numerous debates among the political and intellectual elites. The basic issue discussed in the 19th century was the national cause, to be more exact – the birth of its modern form after independence had been regained. The agenda of compromise (broadly or narrowly understood) specified the not only political but primarily ideological involvement in the specific historical situation. The image of Polish conservative thought, which struggled with the issue of national independence, also carries with it, and sometimes primarily, a collection of values that would represent the fundamental component of the identity of a Pole living in an independent country. Alongside the issue of national interest, the history of conservative thought demonstrates how distinct the Poles’ interests are in comparison with their peers in European culture. It also shows the train of thought of the Polish intellectual elite in shaping of the idea of the nation’s independence and the developmental path of the idea of political realism, which overshadows reflection on the restoration of independence. Tradition, national heritage, consciousness and the national identity, cultural disparity with the West and political realism – these are the values that made their way onto the agenda of the national parties in 1918.
Concepts of reality in the political philosophy of conservatism were defined in opposition to philosophical movements of Enlightenment and liberal social movements of XVII and XVIII century. Those ideas were anti-rational and anti-individualistic, they sought their very foundation in the lack of physical and intellectual self-sufficiency of a human being. The concepts of the social contract, the material of the intellectual rebellion of the modern social philosophy, caused agitation among conservative thinkers for whom the idea of society features the organic and hierarchic society. Rudimentary roots of order in the conservative thought were founded directly upon the God’s power. With its ahistoricism such reality allows the conviction that it is exactly as it should be and all what happens makes up a part of its universal content and rules prearranged by the Creator. The family is the major courier of values and tradition. It should be a role model for all social structures, hence the patriarchate defines the appropriate relations within the social organism. The social organism is often compared to an organism of an individual where each part has its designed function and when one is malfunctioning – the whole body has been weakened. It is opposite of the modern ideas of autonomy, the innate freedom of a human being who creates reality himself.
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