| Abstract [eng] |
This paper examines Paul W. Kahn's concept of the autonomy of the political. With this concept, Kahn defends the position that political reality is independent of morality – it is based on different premises and has its own distinct meanings. This work presents an interpretation of Kahn's concept of the political, in which the political is defined as the continuation of collective existence as an end in itself. An important place in the formulation of this interpretation is occupied by a critical review of Carl Schmitt's concept of the political, which plays an explicitly important role in Kahn's thinking. The autonomy of the political is assessed on the basis of the presented interpretation – if politics is autonomous in relation to morality, then the continuation of collective existence as an end in itself must also be autonomous in the same vein. This work aims to show that this is not so. This is done by an analysis of self-sacrifice, which in Kahn's thought functions as a condition of the political. Showing that self-sacrifice is moral in nature therefore denies the autonomy of the political. |
