| Abstract [eng] |
The aim of the given master thesis, called “The political philosophy of Alexandre Kojeve as a development of the concept of tragic history“ , is to analyze the political philosophy of Alexandre Kojeve from a perspective of tragic history formulated by Ivan Il'in. The examination of current academic discussions about political philosophy of Alexandre Kojeve shows us that the question of a relationship between his understanding of history and his political philosophy has to be seen as important and selected for a detailed analysis. It is revealed that in ongoing academic discussions some authors highlight not only the importance of Ivan Il'in, but the importance of a whole tradition of Russian thought to Alexandre Kojeve. Both Alexandre Kojeve and Ivan Il'in are considered to be a continuation of a wider tradition of Russian thought, related to specific relationship within history. The aim of the given paper is to analyze: 1. The concept of history, formulated by Alexandre Kojeve; 2. The relationship between political philosophy and the concept of history, formulated by Alexandre Kojeve. The ideas of Alexandre Kojeve are being interpret both as a continuation of the Russian intellectual tradition and specifically, the concept of tragic history. Because of the raised hypothesis, it is first explained, why the Russian tradition offers a specific relationship with history. Secondly, it is analyzed how Ivan Il'in took part in the development of a Russian tradition by formulating the concept of tragic history. Thirdly, Alexandre Kojeve’s concept of history is being interpret as a continuation of it. Lastly, the political philosophy of Alexandre Kojeve is being analyzed as a continuation of such a tragic understanding of history. Two broad questions concerning Alexandre Kojeve are analyzed: 1. Questions of his concept of history, by showing why his concept of history should be considered tragic; 2. Questions of how his understanding of history affected his political philosophy and views on the future of politics. Two main conclusions of the research are presented: 1. The concept of history formulated by Alexandre Kojeve could be interpret as tragic because (similarly as in the works by Ivan Il'in) it is built on a premise that history has a theoretically known goal, but in practice it is obvious that this goal is unreachable. It means that history could not reach any final “end of history” , understood as a new political community known as the “universal state” – only humans believe in teleological nature of history’s ends, which means that changes occur only in the human perception of history; 2. It is argued that Alexandre Kojeve implied a refusal to believe in some attainable final goal of history, but it does not mean that the politics understood as conflict in human societies should necessarily end. It is noted that Alexandre Kojeve stated that traditional authorities build on traditions and past experience should lose their importance in politics and this process could be explained by massive refusal in the future to take legitimacy based on past experiences seriously. But it is emphasized that according to Alexande Kojeve traditional authorities could be at least partly replaced by the juridical authorities, which base their legitimacy on universal principles. It is also argued that it is wrong to accuse him of trying to formulate a “nihilistic” philosophy aimed towards destruction, although, it should be understood that in his works legal authority is not presented as based on specific principles or tied to any political regime (democracy included), which means that his political philosophy could be interpret as allowing authoritarian practices. Overall, it is highlighted that Alexandre Kojeve, as well as Ivan Il'in, formulated a much less optimistic concept of history than it is typical in Russian intellectual tradition, but partly continued it because of the importance of history and the idea of its final goal to him. |
