Bernard Bosanquet a Leonard Hobhouse – spór o metafizyczną teorię państwa

Abstract

The subject of this article is the course and consequences of a dispute between Bernard Bosanquet and Leonard Hobhouse over philosophical concepts expounded by the first of those thinkers in his The Philosophical Theory of the State. The Author begins by presenting the profiles of those philosophers, focusing mainly on the similarities between them. The nature of those had both theoretical (being the outcome of the fact that they had the same teacher and role-model – Thomas Hill Green) and practical (they were both engaged in activities leading to the improvement of the moral and material condition of the poorest) character. The Author conitinues by sketching Bosanquet’s political theories, dedicating most of his attention to the concept of the general will, which he descirbes as system of ideas responsible for the character of social and political order. This concept was the main object of Hobhouse’s launched attack. Hobhouse was especially concerned about practical consequences of identifying the general will with the real will and juxtaposing them with the actual wills of particular citizens. Hobhouse saw here the possibility of legitimizing dictatorship as a system of rule where the representatives of the state’s institutions ‘know best’ the real needs of the the individuals.