Łukasz Nysler

Philosophical tradition of American pragmatism, and particularly its branch stemming from the works of John Dewey , is usually associated with the liberal or leftist position in political and social philosophy. The aim of this paper is to consider the question whether the basic ideas of Deweyan pragmatism can be reconciled with, and perhaps inspirational for the conservative thinking, where the „conservative thinking” is defined by reference to six basic principles : ethical absolutism , metaphysical thinking, supranaturalistic humanism , anthropological and historiosophical pessimism , eschatological thought, politics as social ethics

In this article I reconstruct some crucial concepts of John Dewey's naturalistic philosophical anthropology and ethics to show their importance for the Deweyan concept of democracy. In particular, I focus on such concepts, as “human nature”, “selfhood”, “individuality”, and “self-realization”, and argue that these concepts are indispensable if we want to effectively grasp what Dewey intended in his ideal of democracy. In this way I hope to show the vital significance of Dewey's thought for contemporary controversies in philosophical anthropology, ethics, social and political philosophy.Key words DEWEY, ANTHROPOLOGY, NATURALISM