RUSSIA’S TEMPORAL ORIENTATION AS ONE OF THE REASONS FOR WAGING THE WAR IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of temporal choices of Russia as a state and as a nation, formed over the centuries in the course of historical events, political decisions and historical-philosophical reflection. It is emphasized that temporality, which we understand as the flow of time from the mode of the past through the present to the mode of the future, acts as an existential background against which specific social, political, economic, and cultural practices unfold, and they, undergoing a cumulative effect, form an integral type of life of the state/nation and its patterns of interaction with other ones, which are similar or opposite to it. The understanding of the flow of time and the processes that can take place in it means also the understanding of the practices that can be realized in reality, or remain as an unrealized potential. But even more, at the level of high abstraction it becomes clear that the interpretation of the flow of time directly affects the collective existence of huge social formations. The purpose of our research is to determine what the temporal paradigm of the Russian nation is in the course of its historical ontogenesis, and why the introduction of this temporal paradigm is hostile and antagonistic to the Ukrainian mentality formed in Western traditions. We also set the second purpose of our research – to find out what existential state can be formed and, accordingly, articulated in the type of temporality that is inherent in the Russian state/nation today. The object of research is the construction of collective social time in various worldview paradigms, the subject of research is the construction of collective social time in Russia from the point of view of historical and philosophical reflection. The research is based on a relativistic understanding of temporality, according to which, in particular, the flow of time depends on the subject who directly experiences it (Augustin of Hippo, H. Bergson, M. Heidegger). This philosophical point of view on temporality is supported by the research of Ukrainian mathematicians G. O. Kravtsov, S. M. Grechko, V. V. Nikitchenko, and A. M. Prymushko, who introduced the concept of time quantum:, and this time quantum depends on the type of consciousness that perceives time directly. Further, on the basis of the method of extrapolation, this conclusion is translated into the collective consciousness of the Russian nation. In particular, it is investigated the problem of the course in which historical processes, political decisions and results of historical-philosophical reflection developed such a type of collective consciousness, which became receptive to a specific type of temporality, antagonistic to the Western world with its set of values and historical-cultural orientation. The results of the research showed that the temporality of Russia as a state and as a nation could be characterized as “conservation of time”, “stagnation” of its flow, despite the pretended dynamics associated with the course of military operations. This stagnation is caused by a lack of internal creative intention and a specific attitude towards some Other, different (and this attitude also contributes to the start of the internal “clock”). It is emphasized that this attitude, which can be described as open or latent enmity, envy or an attempt to capture, subjugate and exploit, contributes to the fact that the internal time of the state/nation “stands still”, because despite the apparent dynamics of events, no significant changes are actually taking place. It is emphasized that the deep existential feeling of inferiority, which is dialectically interconnected with its antipode – the feeling of greatness – nurtures this attitude towards the Other and the corresponding temporal orientation. It is concluded that Russia’s war with Ukraine from the point of view of temporality is presented as an attempt to “conserve time” of the opponent and a desire to hide the processes of degradation in the illusory dynamics of events.