What are traditions?

This essay, which combines methods of phenomenological description, definition, and scientific explanation, tries to look more comprehensively into the phenomenon of traditions. The author starts from social and scientific explanations of this phenomenon to problematize the challenging thesis of contingency as an inherent source of traditions. The next step is to formulate definition of tradition and explicate its components. The second part of the essay first specifies the socially significant roles of traditions, in order to finally raise the issue of their relation to cultural pluralism, the ways in which traditions are maintained and treated. With regard to the latter, the author advocates the practice of reformist traditionalism, highlighting its advantages over conservatism and the revolutionary deconstruction of traditions.