Harmonia i postęp. Społeczno-polityczne poglądy Leonarda Trelawny’ego Hobhouse’a

The subject of the article is the social and political thought of Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse, one of the pioneers of British sociology and one of the main ideologists of the doctrine of New Liberalism. This essay’s aim consists in presenting both Hobhouse’s academic profile and his most important theoretical claims. It will depict the sources of his philosophical and sociological inspiration as well as his antipathies (particularly, his attitude towards Herbert Spencer). Hobhouse’s theoretical worldview will be portrayed as a systemic entity. The sources of all his social and political theses will be shown to spring from the content of his first, strictly philosophical work, The Theory of Knowledge. Hobhouse’s teleology, evolutionism and organicism originate directly form here.