Theological Foundations of Modern Power: the Experience of Deconstruction
The article is devoted to the explication and research of the theological origins of the modern paradigm of power and politics in a methodological perspective, set by a combination of hermeneutical, genealogical and deconstructivist ways of reflection and interpretation. The highlighted concept o...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Philosophy and Law
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Антиномии |
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| Online Access: | http://yearbook.uran.ru/images/files/21_1_p7_26.pdf |
| Summary: | The article is devoted to the explication and research of the theological origins
of the modern paradigm of power and politics in a methodological perspective, set by
a combination of hermeneutical, genealogical and deconstructivist ways of reflection
and interpretation. The highlighted concept of theology of power (politics) is thought
out, mainly, at the intersection of the ideas of G. Agamben, K. Schmitt, E. Kantorovich,
M.Heidegger, M. Foucault. The author substantiates the idea that the theological meanings
and references of modern political concepts are not just brought to light in the course of
special theoretical research and projections, but directly and implicitly have a practical
impact on the political structure and technologies of power. The article considers the
possibility of “suspending” the action of the metaphysical “machine” that is responsible
for the production and operation of the theological myth of power, which determines the
political existence of man and society in their modern expression. In this connection,
the role of metaphysics, which determines the Western European world, is exhibited as
an onto-theo-logy (M. Heidegger), which sees the supreme and first cause of all things
as the divine. The rational theology thus sets the contours of all metaphysics, which
determines the essence of European thinking in the Middle ages in the form of Christian
theology, and in Modern times in the form of emerging scientific knowledge. Secularized
political concepts act as a signature that refers to theology (G. Agamben). First of all, this
applies to such a concept as “sovereignty”: the state-legal concept of the sovereign is
derived from the Christian image of God, personifying the absolute, that is, unlimited, not
deducible from anything, a single and indivisible form of power. The theological model
of divine governance of the world, in which the miracle is understood as a manifestation of the providential and “saving” will of God, suspending the action of natural law, is the
paradigm of the modern state of emergency as a direct intervention of the sovereign in
the current law and order (K. Schmitt). |
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| ISSN: | 2686-7206 2686-925X |