The article focuses on the first texts by Alexan-dre KojEve which date back to 1917 : Initially written in Moscow, they were lost and then reconstructed by KojEve in 1920 after his departure from Russia. This "philosophical notebook" reflects KojEve's interest in the moral philosophy which is explicitly or implicitly linked to the historical reality. Firstly, we analyze the Thoughts on the battle of Arginusae written on 5 January 1917, on the Eve of the February Revolution. In this text, which relates, without, howEver, missing allusions to some Events of the Great War, a naval battle between the Athenian and Spartan fleets in 406 BC, KojEve ponders upon the conflict between the ethical universality and the reality. Another text is a reflection on death inspired by the murder of KojEve's stepfather killed by lumpen peasants. These texts shed light on KojEve's political thought and announce his speculations on the revolutionary violence and Terror which he dEveloped at his seminar on Hegel at the Ecole pratique des hautes etudes in Paris, 1933-1939. Thus, we propose a historical reading which sometimes doesn't hesitate to steer against KojEve's own vision of these texts.

Translated title of the contributionHistory, politics and death in the diary of a philosopher (1917-1920) by alexandre ko-jeve
Original languageFrench
Pages (from-to)271-284
JournalRevue des Etudes Slaves
Volume90
Issue number1-2
StatePublished - 2019

    Scopus subject areas

  • Arts and Humanities(all)

ID: 49666811