{"title":"Ryszard Legutko","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRyszard Legutko\u003c\/strong\u003e offers profound reflections on the nature of democracy, freedom, and political thought. His works delve into the complexities and contradictions within modern democratic societies, challenging readers to rethink familiar assumptions through a philosophical lens.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBlending insights from \u003cem\u003ephilosophy\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003epolitics\u003c\/em\u003e, and cultural critique, Legutko’s writing appeals to those interested in the deeper currents shaping contemporary political and social life. His books provoke thoughtful engagement with enduring questions about governance, liberty, and the human condition.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-demon-in-democracy-by-ryszard-legutko-9781594039911","title":"The Demon in Democracy","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRyszard Legutko lived and suffered under communism for decades—fighting with the Polish anti-communist movement to abolish it. After living for two decades under a liberal democracy, he discovered that these two political systems have much more in common than one might think. Both stem from the same historical roots in early modernity and accept similar presuppositions about history, society, religion, politics, culture, and human nature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Demon in Democracy\u003c\/i\u003e, Legutko explores the shared objectives between these two political systems, explaining how liberal democracy has, over time, lurched towards the same goals as communism, albeit without Soviet-style brutality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBoth systems, says Legutko, reduce human nature to that of the common man, who is led to believe himself liberated from the obligations of the past. Both the communist man and the liberal democratic man refuse to admit that there exists anything of value outside the political systems to which they pledged their loyalty. Furthermore, both systems refuse to undertake any critical examination of their ideological prejudices.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46850020507884,"sku":"9781594039911","price":54.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/14847663482755.jpg?v=1759076074"},{"product_id":"the-way-of-the-gadfly-by-ryszard-legutko-9781587315930","title":"The Way of the Gadfly","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis new series of scholarly reflections on the interpretation of Socratic philosophy is an inviting combination of intuition and meticulous analysis. Ryszard Legutko provides the reader a monumental service in his confrontation of the most important and influential literature written on the subject to date. He likewise opens the conversation to European contributions and renders Socrates truly a figurehead of future philosophy far beyond being a pillar in ancient thought.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLegutko argues that Socrates was systematic, and his moral views were ultimately grounded in his theory of knowledge that was composed of logically connected propositions (\u003cem\u003elogoi\u003c\/em\u003e). Reading Plato, Legutko's intuition that Socrates was quite the opposite of the quirky, ironic, and enigmatic character is supported by his demonstration of Socrates' consistency, unity, and hierarchy of thought. He extends Socrates' coherency to a criticism of the democratic mind, framing him even less as a random spit-fire and more the grounded observer. Socrates, argues Legutko, is well aware of the importance of general concepts and he intended to free these concepts from democratic distortions and give them firm and independent foundations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn short, \u003cem\u003eThe Way of the Gadfly\u003c\/em\u003e is a beautiful and precise exploration of order that seeks to be changed by the awareness of this order, and how to wield concepts apart from the motives of arrogance and chaos—neither of which represent nature, and therefore are foreign to the way of the gadfly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000824578284,"sku":"9781587315930","price":49.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/3779433482753.jpg?v=1763307707"},{"product_id":"the-cunning-of-freedom-by-ryszard-legutko-9781641771375","title":"The Cunning of Freedom","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe book has two currents. The first is an analysis of the three concepts of freedom, which are called, respectively, negative, positive, and inner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNegative freedom is defined as an absence of coercion, positive freedom as an ability to rule oneself and rule others, inner freedom as being oneself, that is, being an author of one's decisions. Each concept is analysed both in terms of its development in the history of ideas and in terms of its internal logic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe major problem of negative freedom is to find widely accepted rules according to which this freedom can be distributed. The major problem of positive freedom is to define what constitutes a free person. The major problem of inner freedom is how to correlate it with the proper interpretation of the human self.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe book advances the thesis - and this constitutes the other current of its narrative - that we have been witnessing the advent of a new form of despotism, much of it being the effect of the dominant position of liberalism. Precisely because it took a reductionist position, liberalism has impoverished our view of freedom, and consequently, our notion of human nature with its political, moral, and metaphysical dimensions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47461521785068,"sku":"9781641771375","price":59.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781641771375-the-cunning-of-freedom.jpg?v=1774970279"},{"product_id":"john-stuart-mill-on-democracy-freedom-and-government-other-selected-writings-by-john-stuart-mill-9781587314063","title":"John Stuart Mill – On Democracy, Freedom and Government \u0026 Other Selected Writings","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition to \u003cem\u003eOn Liberty\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eOn Representative Government\u003c\/em\u003e, this new selection of Mill’s writings includes, among others, a number of less known of his writings, such as: \"Civilization,\" \"Perfectibility,\" \"The Negro Question,\" \"On Education,\" \"On Aristocracy,\" \"On Marriage,\" \"On Free Press,\" \"Socialism,\" Mill’s review of Tocqueville’s \u003cem\u003eDemocracy in America\u003c\/em\u003e, his letters to Tocqueville, and several other writings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf one can use a somewhat exaggerated language, Mill’s writings are to liberal-democracy what Marx and Engels’ writings were to Communism. Both systems gave expression to 19th century man’s longing for equality and justice, both promised to liberate him from the shackles of oppression, authority and tradition. Instead of liberating man, Communism created the most brutal system in human history, and its spectacular fall in 1989 is one of history’s greatest events.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Western world today shows that liberal-democracy is no longer a benign doctrine, which advocates free market, minimum state and individual liberties, but, like Communism, is an all-encompassing ideology which forces an individual to abdicate his freedom and soul in favour of a Communist-like collective.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs many critics of real Socialism could see the seeds of totalitarianism in the writings of Marx and Engels, so one can see the seeds of liberal totalitarianism in Mill’s writings. This new edition is intended to help readers to understand why democratic-liberalism came so close to its 19th-century ideological rival.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47463361970412,"sku":"9781587314063","price":85.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781587314063-john-stuart-mill-on-democracy-freedom-and-government-other-selected-writings.jpg?v=1775031928"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/ryszard-legutko.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}