Abstract:
Experiencing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine gives grounds to define culture as a particular world of collective existence; one that is under an existential threat and therefore, this full-scale aggression should be considered a war on cultural world. This allows for the interpretation of the concept of culture in terms of Heidegger’s existential ontology: as being-of-the-cultural-world. Habermas’ universalist view on communicative mutual recognition of different cultures is then critically assessed. In turn, an issue within cultural interactions is that of a critical point where communitarian and liberal philosophies meet, while national-cultural and sociopolitical dimensions reflected in a state differ. Following Taylor and Honneth, Hegel’s concept of ethical life (Sittlichkeit) can be treated as the cultural basis for civic unity and interactions. The essay ends with the conclusion that an idea of ethical life could serve as a correlate of social philosophy for the ontological understanding of culture.
Keywords:
existential war, the world of culture, ontology, ethical life (Sittlichkeit), civil society
How to cite:
Bystrytsky, Yevhen. “Existential War and the Ontological Understanding of Culture.” Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture 9, no. 1 (2025): 73-93. https://doi.org/10.14394/eidos.jpc.2025.0005.
Author:
Yevhen Bystrytsky
Department of Philosophy of Culture, Ethics and Aesthetics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
4, Tryokhsviatitelska str., Kyiv 01001, Ukraine
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0068-9608
bystrytsky.yevhen@gmail.com
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