Abstract: Currently, the majority of political leaders and practical executives claim rationality as a universal, generally accepted language of communication between the subjects involved into the political process. Political rationality underlies the formation of the diverse cognitive constructs that reveal the nature of development of the political realm. The basic categories and concepts of the originally emerged classical ideology of liberalism have been grounded on the principles of rationalism. The article examines the precise rational principles that formed the ideology of early liberalism. Analysis of the problem of rational in the indicated ideology is conducted on the basis of the historical-genetic approach, in combination with the principle of contextualization. This allows viewing the establishment of ideological trend under the influence of sociopolitical, cultural and intellectual context of the covered timeframe. The scientific novelty lies in determination and analysis of the problem of rational in classical political ideology of liberalism. The achieved results will be helpful; in further research of the transformation of rational principles, as well as analysis of the modern political realm regarding the possibility of application of classical liberal ideological concepts and categories.

Abstract: This article considers the insufficiently studied problem of the rational in political ideologies. The author provides definitions to the notions of rational and ideology in political discourse, as well as meticulously examines the problem of rational in the originated liberal, social and conservative concepts. The timeframe covered in the research includes the end of the XVIII – beginning of the XIX centuries. The author is convinced that the problem of rationality is one of the crucial and simultaneously the most unexplored aspects of study of the political ideologies. Thus, it necessitate the development of critical view upon the comprehension of rational in political ideologies. The article conducts a comparative analysis of the rational in ideologies of liberalism, conservatism, and socialism of the indicated period. The main conclusion consist in the proof that all of the political ideologies in their essence are rational. But it worth emphasizing that the liberal and social concepts were built within the framework of classical type of rationality, unlike the evolvement of conservative ideology.