The Philosophy of Balance. Mind and Heart & Conservatism and Liberalism. - E-book - ePub

The duality of human soul, Faculty of Reason and Faculty of Emotions, was recognized by men from antiquity and was conveniently called Mind and Heart. And since antiquity philosophers and thinkers continue to contemplate and argue about superiority of Mind or Heart in human natures of individuals or political organizations. At the same time the profound importance of balanced relationship between Mind and Heart in the lives of individuals and societies was widely recognized.
This essay is trying to investigate the roots of the two domineering political ideologies of the modern liberal democracies - Conservatism and Liberalism. The essay shows that the cardinal difference lies in the two types of the human personalities - "tough" Conservatism is characterized by the prevailing influence of the Mind, Rational thinking and "tender" Liberalism is under much stronger influence of the Heart, Feelings.
Healthy existence and productive, efficient collaboration of both Conservatism and Liberalism are vital for the successful development of liberal democracies. Grave sickness of any ideology, and the political party which represents it, is the decease of the whole civic society and ruinous to the fabric of democratic order.