PHILOSOPHY IN THE WAR MODE: TOWARDS THE PROBLEM OF META-ANALYTICAL APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF PHILOSOPHICAL PRACTICES

Abstract

The article outlines the problem and proposes an initial development of meta-analytical approaches to the study of philosophical practices in the war mode, focusing on the contemporary Ukrainian and Russian contexts. The point of departure is the recognition that war constitutes a specific form of international relations and, at the same time, a radical social upheaval in which tensions between philosophy and ideology manifest themselves with renewed force. Under such conditions, philosophical reflections may acquire a public character and begin to function as interpretive frameworks through which societies comprehend their place in the world, the nature of the conflict, and the possibility of future coexistence. In this situation, philosophy is considered as a “rational element” in the formation of social consciousness, capable of signaling the ideological needs or demands of a society’s internal cultural and political regime. The authors concentrate on constructing a meta-position that would allow for the formulation of criteria for analyzing philosophical practices. Criticality and ethicality are proposed as fundamental meta-analytical principles, rooted in Kant’s project of disciplining reason and moral autonomy. Criticality is described as the institutional responsibility of reason for its own limits and as resistance to dogmatism and ideological pressure; ethicality – as an orientation toward human dignity, the inadmissibility of instrumentalizing the other, and the maintenance of thought within the horizon of responsibility. Taken together, these dimensions also make it possible to evaluate philosophical positions not only by their content or argumentation, but by the extent to which they preserve the autonomy of thought and contribute to the development of humanistic foundations within a society experiencing war. The proposed framework is intended to serve as a conceptual basis for further studies of philosophical texts or positions in general and in the war mode in particular, including the analysis of philosophy’s participation in wartime confrontation as a certain instrument, as well as for the comparative study of the philosophical landscapes of Ukraine and Russia.