Chronotopy and topochrony of power in the context of the socio-political views of A. Kozhev and G.V.F. Hegel

Philosophy

Abstract

The paper deals with spatiotemporal characteristics of power in the philosophical theory of A. Kozhev. It is argued that that Kozhev’s philosophy of power was based on the philosophy of power of G. Hegel. However, the spatiotemporal characteristics of Hegel’s power and Kozhev’s power are essentially different. Hegel’s power is totally topochronous, it absorbs temporality, leaving only formal chronology, whereas Kozhev’s power corresponds to the concept of «Chronotope». Developing the ideas of Hegel, A. Kozhev offers a philosophical theory of power in which time and space harmoniously merge in the format of co-existence. Kozhev refuses to speak of the historicity of power, devoting all his efforts to the study of the internal temporality of power and its manifestation at the phenomenal level. As such, he suggests seeing separate modes (in our terminology, chronotopes) of the space-time of power: «Father», «Master», «Leader» and «Judge». Special attention is paid to the dialectic of the finite and the infinite, the temporal and the chronological in the dynamics of Kozhev’s power. It is concluded that for Kozhev, power is always a living whole (a combination of «pure» types), which has its own genesis, its own field and duration of action, and its own death. It is proved that Kozhev’s philosophical concept remained incomplete, especially in the field of philosophy of law and philosophy of history. The analysis is based on Kozhev’s treatises: The Concept of Power, Introduction to Hegel’s Readings, Essay on the Phenomenology of Law, Tyranny and Wisdom. Materials of modern researchers, including translators of the philosophical heritage of A. Kozhev, are also extensively involved.