The Philosophical Category of the Ideal in the Models of the Future State of the Religious Extremists

Abstract

The article analyzes the philosophical category of the ideal in the models of the future state structure, which are developed by the religious extremists in the context of modern social reality as the implementation of the ideal. The research is based on the activities of the Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami terrorist organization in Siberia. It is aimed at identifying the components of the religious extremist associations’ ideology of constructing a model of an ideal state. The socio-philosophical analysis of the ideology provisions and the hermeneutical approach to the manifestations of extremism serve the basis of the research methodology. The extremist ideas in religion are deviations from the norm and can arise in any religious tradition, thus expanding the scope of interpretations of religious law and positioning the existing situation in the religious community as untrue and distorted. The future state is represented by the extremists as an ideal social structure established on the principle of justice and in accordance with sacred precepts. The conflict of such worldview ideas as “it should be so” and “it is so” as well as the “perfectionist illusion” about an ideal society imply the possibility of creating an ideal world in modern social reality. Violence is understood as a necessary means to achieve this goal if other methods are ineffective. The authors characterize the similarities between the models of an ideal society developed by the religious extremism and the utopias in terms of content and interpretation, as well as religious extremist consciousness and utopian thinking in terms of structure and orientation. The ideologies of extremist associations embrace the understanding of the principle of justice, the idea of exclusivity, the model of the ideal, and the theological foundations of social actions. The tendency of thinking to utopian ideas, the intuitive assumption of the existence of an ideal, just society, and the conflict between “the proper” and “the existing” contribute to the spread of extremist ideas. Extremism uses the properties of consciousness: religiousness and thinking in absolute categories (in a destructive aspect in order to add naturalness to its ideas) and religious ideas (in order to justify illegal activities with a sacred will). The actions of the members of the extremist associations are given the status of free personal choice regarding the fulfillment of religious prescriptions and the divine will to create a world just society