NATIONAL COMMUNITIES AS THE SPACE OF VALUE PRESERVATION AND TRANSFORMATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF PARTICULARISM AND UNIVERSALISM (THE ISSUE OF NATIONAL AND EUROPEAN IDENTITY)

The aim of the study is to explain the place of communities in contemporary pluralistic democratic societies. The shared values of particular communities by which they are primarily defined, may perceive an integrating process and universalistic requirements of bigger entities as a certain threat. In the study, the author deals with the nation as a community, whereby a national identity is supposed to be understood as one of the key values of the community. From this point of view, the author reflects on the issue of European identity justifying its importance based on the demands of universalism and particularism.