Vindicae contra tyrannos: Apology of the state as a medium of social integration
In this article author presents an apology of the state in relation to modern political theory and humanity scholars and persistent criticism of such an important institution. The first section of the article provides a reconstruction of the origins of the negative attitude toward the state in liberalism, Marxism and conservativism, which have resulted in ridiculous predictions regarding the disappearance of the nation state in the context of globalization. In the second part the author asserts that the state is the unavoidable medium of modern social synthesis and deals with the problem of the one-sidedness modern ideologies and their programs of social synthesis. The principles necessary to perform this task are divided amongst ideologies (freedom - liberalism, equality - Marxism, community - conservativism), and due to this historical fact, we have conflict between them instead of complementarity. This leads to the conclusion that we ought to get rid of devotion to one ideology in favor of reform of our way of thinking. The final section of the article provides a description of the phenomena present transitional societies and the leading political role of intellectuals. In the author's view this unhappy occurrence is due to inadequate education in the area of modern political theory, which due to its negative attitude toward the state reduces our political skill. The first step to avoiding this requires the abandonment of negative attitudes toward the state and the fostering of respect of the state as the protector of the "common good" and the guarantor of liberty, necessary for the improvement of people's lives, in keeping with Aristotle's statement.