Openness to the Other: ethical dimensions of freedom in wartime conditions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21847/2411-3093.2025.743Keywords:
freedom, personal freedom, the Other, Openness to the Other, meta-anthropology of freedom, subjecthood of Ukraine, New HumanismAbstract
This article explores the concept of “Openness to the Other” within the intersection of individual freedom and contemporary political realities at both national and global levels. Drawing upon the philosophical anthropology of M. Scheler and H. Plessner, the existential phenomenology of M. Merleau-Ponty, and M. Buber’s philosophy of dialogue, the study posits that Openness to the Other is not merely a secondary attribute of the subject, but a fundamental ontological condition of “being-in-the-world”. This ontological and ethical dimension serves as a theoretical basis for analyzing the existential mode of Ukrainian society and its relational dynamics with other political actors.
The discourse reveals an ethical paradox: the possibility of remaining open toward an entity that fundamentally repudiates the principle of openness itself. The Russian-Ukrainian war is examined as a collision between the inherent openness of the liberal order and the radical closure of the Russian imperial project. The author contends that the framework of “New Humanism” enables a re-interpretation of freedom as intrinsically bound to humanistic intentionality – specifically, mutuality and ethical responsibility.
Ultimately, the article proposes a reformulated vision of contemporary freedom and agency within the paradigm of New Humanism.
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