The Department of Political Science has invited Dr. Szabolcs Pogonyi (senior lecturer of the ELTE and CEU universities) to deliver a lecture on the "Liberal interpretations of the concept of politics".
At the beginning of his lecture, he stated that political liberalism is different from the concept of liberalism in ordinary language. The concept of liberalism is conducted by the idea of individual autonomy, and to understand this concept, we need to examine its history.
As a result of Newton's scientific revolution, the premodern, religious worldview has broken down; the scientific revolution also brought about changes in the world of moral philosophy and political philosophy. Locke, Hobbes, and Bentham were all aware of this new situation, followed by Kant, who constituted a new, secularized Christian worldview.
Classical liberal political theory always works with universal explanations, and is surrounded by problems of "ivory tower mentality". This was also true for 19th century liberal political thinkers. It made a paradigm shift necessary, which was accomplished by the appearance of political liberalism. John Rawls' 1993 book Political Liberalism has brought new approaches to the subject. As Rawls states, his theory is purely political, and it has nothing to do with comprehensive moral doctrines, while in his earlier book, A Theory of Justice, he consistently used phrases like "original position" and the "veil of ignorance". His basic statement is that the currently accepted principles are similar, even though the ideologies are different. The aim of political liberalism is to find these principles. He thinks that Western societies only accept these principles because reasonable cohabitation calls for them. In Pogonyi's opinion, the essence of political liberalism is that we do not have to persuade each other about questions of detail; all we have to do is reach a consensus, if it is possible. He acknowledged that there were some movements and organizations who aimed for this type of persuasion, but in the current discourse, it was important to keep these discussions peaceful, maybe even by political regulation. Most debates, however, are not about principles; they are about their realization.
