Community after Totalitarianism. The Russian Orthodox Intellectual Tradition and the Philosophical Discourse of Political Modernity

Abstract

Starting with a definition of political modernity from the perspective of its greatest trial – totalitarianism – this study asks the question how community is conceptualized in the contemporary Western philosophical discourse and in the Russian Orthodox intellectual tradition. Contemporary philosophical and theological approaches in Russia develop alternative perspectives on community and on the human subject. This study analyzes them historically and philosophically and compares them with liberal, postmodern and communitarian philosophies of community in the West. This thesis was supervised by Professor Dr. Peter Wagner at the European University Institute, Florence.