Thought after the Revolution: the Aporia of the Grounds

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to consider a unique situation of theoretical thought after the revolution. If the revolutionary formulation of the previously considered "natural" grounds turned out to be productive for natural sciences, humanitarian thinking faced a number of fundamental aporias. In the article these aporias are explicated and author gives their sequential description. The author introduces the concept of two levels of law. The first level of the law approves the very order of any authority, the second level provides an opportunity for lawmaking. The retention of first level of the law affords a basis for thought. The revolutionary situation denies the necessity of first-level laws and seeks to establish itself in the second-level laws in various ways. One such way is to imitate the existence of the first level of laws. Another way is a constant, increasingly accelerating, law-making. The third way is to take control of the time itself so that the question of grounds is no longer raised. All these ways complement each other. The author considers the consequences of their application for thought that has appeared in the situation after the revolution. He refers to several historical examples, touching upon the issue of Germany's acquiring its identity through the discovery of its own antiquity and through the reflection of Saint-Just. As a result, the author raises the question of the status of modernity, which determines the way of current thought.