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Ryszard Legutko Biography

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“Under communism, the conceptual engine that animated the communist ideology was the idea of class struggle, supposedly fought throughout the entire history of humanity. In a liberal democracy, this engine—believed to have been present in the history of humanity since the beginning of time—is an improved version of the original. The Marxists had only “class” as an ideological leverage. In today’s liberal democracy the main ideological triad is “class, race, and gender.”

RaceClassGenderCommunism
Book:The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies
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“There are four things that an aristocrat should contribute to the modern world to countervail its ideological tendencies: the rejection of historical inevitability; the defense of the ethics of obligations; an acceptance of the body/soul dualism with the soul taking the dominant position; and a classical concept of shame. All of them are interrelated.”

SocietyEthicsShameModern WorldPolitical PhilosophySocial OrderAristocratsBody Soul
Book:The Cunning of Freedom: Saving the Self in an Age of False Idols
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“As regards the modern liberal democrat who represents the class of victors in this process of emancipation, despite his loud bragging about transgressions, too much of his language and presuppositions sound discordant with the idea of freedom -- too much necessity, inevitability, irreversible change, and too many natural God-given drives. His language holds too many references to the tides of history and refers to excessive adapting, yielding, giving in, and indulging. There is also too much easiness in pursuing freedom, too much self-absolution, and too much nonchalance in dismissing all the caveats and counterarguments accumulated over the centuries. He appears more like an actor who takes part in a performance in which he has been ordered to play the role of a free man. He duly obeys the author's and director's orders but is utterly unaware that, by listening to those orders, he has already lost his chance to be his own master.”

FreedomLiberalismLiberal Democrats
Book:The Cunning of Freedom: Saving the Self in an Age of False Idols
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“The ideological man is thus both absolutely suspicious and absolutely enthusiastic. There seems to be no idea under the sun that he would not put into question and make an object of derision, skepticism, or contempt, no idea that he would not reduce to an offshoot of hidden instincts, mundane interests, biological drives, and psychological complexes. Hence he is likely to despise reason as an autonomous faculty, to downgrade lofty ideals, and to debunk the past, seeing everywhere the same ideological mystification. But at the same time, he lives in a constant state of mobilization for a better world. His mouth is full of noble slogans about brotherhood, freedom, and justice, and with every word he makes it clear that he knows which side is right and that he is ready to sacrifice his entire existence for the sake of its victory. The peculiar combination of both attitudes--merciless distrust and unwavering affirmation--gives him an incomparable sense of moral self-confidence and intellectual self-righteousness.”

PoliticsDemocracyActivismIdeologyCommunism
Book:The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies
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