Hessen S.I. on Opposites and the Dialectical Unity of Socialism and Conservatism

Abstract

The article considers the interpretation of the relationship between socialism and conservatism presented in the political philosophy of S.I. Hessen. The essence of conservatism in the interpretation of the Russian philosopher is reduced to three interrelated principles – historicism, organicism, etatism. Conservatism in the interpretation of Hessen appears as a holistic, static, devoid of internal dynamics of the political worldview. Socialism, on the contrary, is interpreted as an antinomian doctrine containing an unremovable internal contradiction. Socialism, from Hessen's point of view, is initially ambivalent, it contains the possibility of development both towards conservative etatism and towards the liberal principle of the sovereignty of law. The interpretation of conservatism in the works of Hessen hardly introduces an element of novelty into modern discussions about the conservative ideological and political tradition. However, the conclusions of the Russian philosopher about the relationship and interconnection of the three basic ideologies are of undoubted theoretical interest.

Acknowledgements: This article was prepared with support from the Grants Council of the President of the Russian Federation, Project MD-2252.2021.2 "The Political Language of Russian Conservatism: A Cultural and Semiotic Analysis".