LU konferencehttps://doi.org/10.22364/ilt.26.10 | 140-149 | PDF
Maja Soboļeva
Dr. phil., filozofijas profesore Marburgas Filipa Universitātē (Vācijā)
Lielinkvizitora atgriešanās
The Return of the Grand Inquisitor
Keywords: Russia, Ukraine, war, Russian soul, myth of Russian Leviathan
Since 24 February 2022, many people have been in a state of perpetual shock. Trouble came from an unexpected side, and Russians were divided overnight into participants, accomplices, witnesses, or accusers of the assault on Ukraine. The reasons given by President Putin for the so-called “special military operation” are purely discursive; they can only satisfy the part of society that for decades has been under the influence of state propaganda that produced the myth of a new Russian Leviathan. These reasons are well known and need not be repeated here, especially because they are constantly changing. However, one need not be a (political) psychologist to assert that the actions of any subject are grounded in their corresponding mentality, and that the bearer of the collective mentality is both the government machinery and society as a whole. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is thus a symptom of the intellectual state of the entire society. A simple argument in favour of this assertion can be the formula (using the rather apt terms in which Lenin formulated his theory of revolution) “those at the top cannot do anything if those at the bottom do not will it done.” The assumption here is that society, even if only to a certain extent, is an integral organism, and, therefore, its external manifestations reflect its internal dispositions. The author aims to look into the secrets of the contemporary “Russian soul” to understand why the seemingly impossible – aggression against an independent state – has become possible. The author does not maintain that this analysis is fully scientific; some assertions must be verified, for example, by means of sociological research. Rather, this chapter embraces reflections of a person deeply hurt by these tragic events.
Saliedētības vektori. Sast., zin. red. I. Kivle, M. Kūlis. Rīga: LU Akadēmiskais apgāds, 2026, 200 lpp.