J. Burckhardt's concept of "state as a work of art" and mainstreaming conservative state in postmodern society

Modern society is called a society of postmodern. There is no detailed definition, what a society of postmodern is. Generally, it means a modern stage of evolution of society, that is a period of time, which came after the period of modern. The society of postmodern, at first sight, has no place for the state in its classical understanding. In this article, the author tries to actualize the conception of the state as conservative ideology understands it, i.e. as a national sovereign state. To make such an understanding of the state topical, the author transfers the concept of the state from the political sphere to art and culture using such theories as F. Jamison's "postmodern as 'the cultural logic of late capitalism'" and J. Burckhardt's "state as a work of art". Jamison introduces the term "political unconscious". The philosopher writes that the basis of "political unconscious" is the ideologically conditioned human consciousness, which people are not aware of. According to F. Jamison, "political unconscious" exists in culture and is an integral part of it. The state is perceived through "political unconscious" because it can be viewed as an element of culture. The idea of "political unconscious", in our opinion, can be the basis for transferring the concept of the state from the political sphere to culture. As culture in postmodern society has the main role, the idea of a national state becomes relevant. It has already happened in the philosophical tradition, e.g., the work of German philosopher and culturologist J. Burckhardt The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (first published in 1860). In F. Jamison's opinion, postmodern deals with the problem of the pastiche of modern, so, to confirm of our idea about the topicality of a conservative state in the postmodern society, we used the concept "state as a work of art" by J. Burckhardt. When we say that a work of art is not just something made, we assert that it is an intentionally planned creation of something, and the state is no exception, because the whole process of administration has an ultimate pre-planned goal. J. Burckhardt affirms that the state is a work of art only if it externalizes its power ambitions, cares about the citizens and is holds, as we would say today, "real sovereignty". In the modern states, people's freedom of creativity becomes their freedom of will expression. From such positions, the state can be not only an act of the "social contract" which eliminates "war of all against all", but an act of collective creation, the result of which is a work of art. These theories allow completing the concept of a conservative state with an aesthetic component, which helps reinforce its theoretical core and actualize it for modern society.

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