ПАРАДОКС МОДЕРНОЇ ІНДИВІДУАЛІЗАЦІЇ І СОЦІАЛЬНА ФІЛОСОФІЯ ДЖОНА ДЬЮЇ

The article is an introductory material to the further study of the heuristic potential of John Dewey's social philosophy in understanding the problem of modern individualization. Interest in this aspect of Dewey's philosophical ideas, for its part, entails a broader purpose of exploring the heuristic potential of the philosophy of pragmatism in the same subject of individualization. During the twentieth century. the philosophy of pragmatism has gained considerable popularity even outside the United States of America, where it originated. It has become part of the academic environments of Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and other countries. However, compared to marxism, freudism or existentialism, the philosophy of pragmatism has not received much attention in social issues. Above all, this was true about classical pragmatism. At the end of the twentieth century. advanced social theorists, based on new social observations, have begun to draw attention to individualization transformations in most developed countries of the West. Those who were more critical, began to evaluate some changes. A number of authors have pointed to the paradox of individualization, which was understood as the spread of personal standardization at the same time with increasing the opportunities, freedoms and rights of individuals in Western societies. Despite the validity of many of the generalizations of these social theorists, they lacked a broad philosophical basis for correct assessments of these changes in societies. The author of the paper presents a contemporary sociological «individualization thesis». A critical analysis of the views of the English sociologist Anthony Giddens on the problem of modern individualization is conducted. The theoretical limitations of his approach in this article exemplify the typical inability of many contemporary scholars to adequately evaluate the current era, particularly in terms of its individualization transformations. Considering this, the author raises the question of the theoretical potential of John Dewey's works in understanding this topic. John Dewey is known to be one of the classics of the philosophy of pragmatism, alongside Charles Sanders Pierce, William James, George Herbert Mead and others. But only John Dewey's works sufficiently cover ideas pertaining to social philosophy, political philosophy and philosophy of education. In this sense, his philosophical achievements are unique to us. Because only by reading his works we can sufficiently investigate what theoretical results of the application of epistemological, anthropological and ethical ideas of classical pragmatism to social issues we can have. It is only with help of Dewey's work we can understand, in particular, how classical pragmatism can respond to the problem of modern individualization, which has been re-actualized in recent decades on the ground of new empirical material in the social sciences and humanities. In addition, John Dewey in his socio-philosophical writings, written in the first half of twentieth century, directly addressed the same topic as the representatives of contemporary sociological «individualization thesis». He drew attention to the state of affairs in which the ideals of the Western people ceased to be in accordance with the realities of their era. In particular, he observed this in such phenomena as, for example, maintaining the materialistic value scheme as a priority at a time when the struggle for material resources ceased to be a difficult task and most people achieved material prosperity. Or, for instance, the very low level of people’s aspiration to associate in local communities at a time when economic corporations became the main form of economic organization for individuals. These inconsistencies of outdated ideals with the new progressive realities, according to John Dewey, were a serious obstacle for people on their way to freedom. This topic can be found primarily in works such as «The Public and Its Problems» (1927), «Individualism. Old and New» (1930), «Liberalism and Social Action» (1935) and «Freedom and Culture» (1939). Therefore, a new revision of John Dewey's philosophical work may be relevant to a more fruitful discussion of the contemporary problem of individualization. As a first step in this study, this article analyzes the interpretation of liberal ideology andmodern institutions that were once offered by an American philosopher. The author reproduces John Dewey's views on the main ideas of such liberal classics as John Locke, Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham. It is claimed that the American philosopher considered the views of these theorists of liberalism unique in aspects of understanding the essences of man and social organization. In their view, man is a creature that is always seeking personal gain in the material sphere of life, and social organization should ideally be a means of realizing such aspiration and should help to defend these aspirations from anyone, who want to abridge it. John Dewey considered that the ideology based on the ideas mentioned above was closely linked to such modern institutions as the industrial economy, mass education and democratic state. Liberalism and modern institutions were one integrity permeated by the old ideal of individualism. The analysis of the interpretations of classical liberalism and modern institutions in this article is the starting point of the study of what the reconstruction of the ideal of individualism in John Dewey's social philosophy was. And how this reconstruction may be useful to us in discussing the contemporary problem of individualization. Keywords: Modern individualization, Anthony Giddens, philosophy of pragmatism, John Dewey, ideal of individualism, liberalism, modern institutions.