Understanding the social role of political symbolism: from the Renaissance to the Mid-twenty century

Abstract

The ideological and theoretical potential of the history of world political thought from the Renaissance to the middle of the 20th century was analyzed for the purpose of understanding the social role of political symbolism. Ideas regarding the possibilities of using political symbolism in the process of social development at different stages of historical evolution were systematized. The potential of creative comprehension of symbolic reality for an in-depth understanding of modern political processes was revealed. The interdisciplinary specificity of the perception of political symbols was conceptualized. In the process of research, the ideas regarding the assessment of symbolic reality of P. Mirandola, M. Ficino, J. Bruno, R. Descartes, G. Leibniz, B. Spinoza, J. Locke, J. Berkeley, D. Hume, F. Voltaire, D. Diderot, J. D'Alembert, J.-J. Rousseau, I. Kant, J. Fichte, G. Hegel, E. Durkheim, M. Weber, E. Cassirer, Z. Freud, K. Jung, E. Husserl, M. Heidegger. It is found that an important feature of the ideological potential of the historical period under study is the evolution from ontological to functional understanding of political symbols. It is shown that culturological and anthropological approaches in this period begin to form an integral part of the theoretical basis for the study of symbolic reality. Cultural anthropology of the first half of the 20th century makes a cardinal change in the understanding of the symbolic dimension of human existence. Anthropological research of symbolic practices of different cultures reveals general patterns of symbol creation and at the same time shows the cultural specificity of their embodiment. It is proved on the examples of the ideological achievements of thinkers how symbolic systems work as means of political organization of society, factors of awareness of symbolic reality. It is proved that the political symbol, unlike Antiquity and the Middle Ages, is no longer perceived as an auxiliary means for reflecting politics, but is recognized as a way of creating political reality itself. It is concluded that in the period under study there was a paradigm shift in political thinking: from understanding symbols as a "reflection" to their interpretation as means of "creating" the political world. The fundamental truth is confirmed: man is a political-symbolic being who lives in the world of powerful meanings of his own creation.