The Actualization of Ancient Ideals of Service to the Fatherland in Contemporary Russia: Perspectives of Practitioners

The ancient philosophical tradition was examined as a source of conceptual foundations for addressing this topic, since it was in antiquity that the polis ideal of citizenship emerged, synthesizing individual and collective good. It is noted that ancient thought, represented by Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero, reveals the ontological connection between the individual and the state, where service to the Fatherland is not an external form of coercion, but a natural expression of human nature. It is shown that, in contrast to modern atomized consciousness, ancient cosmocentrism affirmed the harmony between the microcosm (the human being) and the macrocosm (the state), thereby eliminating any contradiction between individual freedom and self-sacrifice for the common good. Special attention is given to ancient paideia—education as a process of forming a virtuous citizen whose identity is inseparable from the fate of the polis. A parallel is drawn between ancient and Russian philosophical traditions (Berdyaev, Losev, Ushinsky), in which patriotism is also understood as self-sacrificial love that overcomes the extremes of individualism. The influence of liberal-democratic ideology is critically analyzed, as it replaces collective forms of identity with a cult of personal interest, leading to an existential threat to Russian statehood.

EDN CBIUOY

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