The Phenomenon of the Spirit of Sacrifice: A Philosophical-Anthropological Interpretation

Abstract

The consciousness of modernity sees the phenomenon of sacrifice/spirit of sacrifice as something that has to be overcome and driven away from social reality. However, the contemporary anthropological paradigm (M. Scheler, P. Ricœur, E. Levinas, R. Girard, and G. Agamben) proves the spirit of sacrifice to be the main driving force of anthroposociogenesis, the basis for constituting religious, political, economic, and socio-cultural life of humankind. Thus, we can speak not only about different understandings of this phenomenon, but also about the rift between the ideology of “living without sacrifice”, propagated by a number of agents of our time, and evidence presented by the social sciences. The author of this paper believes that social philosophy should view the phenomenon of the spirit of sacrifice in the light of diversity, goal-setting and multi-directionality of its actualization. One of the main goals for contemporary intellectuals
(religious and secular) is to achieve maximum clarity in differentiating diverse attitudes and forms of understanding related to this phenomenon. In particular, it is necessary to consistently deconstruct the intention of the ideology of ressentiment (M. Scheler) aimed at simplifying the lifeworld of human beings and form a philosophical and anthropological paradigm of understanding the spirit of sacrifice as a mode of free spiritual practice. The essence of the latter consists in devoting one’s life to the values of family, freedom and fecundity, making it possible to overcome the existing “order of violence” through restraining the processes of mimetic rivalry by detecting, criticising, preventing, stopping and transforming them. According to the author, the richness of meanings hidden in the term sacer represents the quintessence of the social and existential strategies and practices of humankind. This article intends to make a theoretical
and methodological step in comprehending the phenomenon of sacrifice/spirit of sacrifice as well as in understanding the contexts of its analysis and development in contemporary society.
For citation: Agapov O.D. The Phenomenon of the Spirit of Sacrifice: A Philosophical-Anthropological Interpretation. Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federal’nogo universiteta. Ser.: Gumanitarnye i sotsial’nye nauki, 2021, no. 1, pp. 92–100. DOI: 10.37482/2687-1505-V078