The crisis of European identity and tradition: three conservative responses of continental thought of the 20th and early 21st centuries

The paper studies the problem of the current crisis of European identity, the cause of which is supposed to be a weakening of the mechanisms of transmission of traditional identity or a gap in the continuity of the European tradition as such. The emphasis is made on three responses to this crisis, which were proposed by representatives of the continental conservative thought of the XX — early XXI centuries. The first response centers on the idea of the “Faustian” soul, which, as supporters of this approach believe, lies at the foundation of European culture. The second direction of the search for a truly European identity is directed to the legacy of Homer, in which the basic principles of existence inherent in all ancient European peoples are said to be expressed in a crystallized form. Finally, the third perspective assumes the presence of a single universal tradition, one of the manifestations of which is the tradition of Europeans. The research is theoretically based on the works of O. Spengler, E. Jünger, W. Sombart, C. Schmitt, M. Eliade, Ch. Maurras, R. Guénon, J. Evola, F. Schuon, G. de Giorgio, D. Venner, A. de Benoist, M. Sedgwick, S. Maas, J. Ursin, A.M. Rutkevich, A.F. Filippov, S.G. Allenov and a number of other authors. The research relies on the principles of discursive analysis, comparative, socio-philosophical, philosophical-historical and historical-philosophical methodology.

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