On Modernism and Contemporaneity of Traditional Values

Abstract

The article addresses the current discussion about values in general sense and about traditional spiritual and moral values in particular from the standpoint of modern social philosophy. The purpose of the study is to show the modernity, contemporaneity and consistency of traditional values in a specific historical situation. To do this, the author identifies the most significant aspects in the reflection on the concept, focusing on the social thought of the last few decades. The result of this is the explication of a specific understanding of values as autonomy only partially dependent on the context. The socio-philosophical discourse on values intersects with those more familiar to philosophy regarding the topic, i.e. axiological, political, ethical or aesthetic, but does not completely coincide with them. Its actualization was caused by the historical events, but it always had its groundings in theoretical contradictions that philosophy has faced. The article provides an outline of the position of values in socio-humanitarian thought, deconstructs some of the foundations of the hierarchy of values proposed by default within globalized thought. The author also demonstrates that posing the question about values in a national context does not contradict the theoretical foundations and the very tasks of philosophy. On the contrary, the need for philosophy, including social philosophy, to pose and answer the question about values is only increasing. On the base of a priori self-worth of traditional spiritual and moral values, the author concludes that one of the most important tasks of social philosophy is to actualize their content and ways of practical integration into modern life in accordance with the spirit and needs of the time.