№ 4 - 2002
Degtyareva M.I.
Reflections a Propos of the “People’s Perspective”

The article presents reflections — from the positions of a historian of philosophy — over texts by B.G.Kapustin, a well-known political philosopher, on political morals The author of the article analyzes possible meanings of the concept of people’s perspective introduced, in his time, by N.Machiavelli, in its interpretation by B.G.Kapustin: it is compliance of a policy with the “people’s perspective”, i.e. with what the people wants, perceives as desirable, that proves to be criterion of the policy’s moral quality in B.G.Kapustin’s comprehension. With this position in view, M.I.Degtyaryova retraces the ways in which the very notion of a nation, of a people has been tried and investigated, in order to unravel its purport, in political thought, especially in conservative tradition. Such historical excursus allows her to turn to the problem of moral choice and moral conduct in modern political context, and to offer variants of interpretation of B.G.Kapustin’s texts which, she maintains, give food for reflection both to philosophers proper and to those who investigate philosophical logic.