The Politics of Contradiction. Highlights from Bartosz Wójcik's lecture on Hegel

On 16 December, we hosted a lecture by INDEX’s December Scholar in Residence, Bartosz Wójcik.

The lecture focused on Hegel’s philosophy of war: What does war mean for the young Hegel? How does Hegel understand war in his mature philosophy? How are his ideas about war still relevant today in the context of Russia’s invasion? The scholar explored these and other questions essential to a deeper understanding of contemporary parallels.

“Hegel believes that the purpose of a nation’s historical development is sovereignty — the realisation of freedom in its own state. Therefore, a nation fighting to preserve its independence is engaged in exactly the kind of struggle Hegel sees as legitimate and necessary for freedom, and freedom is Hegel’s central credo, the very essence of his philosophy,”
says Bartosz Wójcik, arguing that Hegel’s philosophy is on Ukraine’s side

Wójcik also emphasised that, in Hegel’s philosophy, war exposes the state’s inner negativity — a moment in which the state both affirms itself and risks self-destruction. Drawing on Slavoj Žižek’s interpretation, he argued that wars between states often externalise unresolved internal contradictions. Using Ukraine as an example, the lecturer highlighted this paradox: War has enabled the assertion of sovereignty and the rupture of colonial ties with Russia, while simultaneously threatening the state’s very existence.

The lecture was hosted by Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. We thank Dr Andriy Dakhniy, the Faculty of Philosophy, and the University for collaboration.

Bartosz Wójcik is a philosopher and intellectual historian, an assistant professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. His work focuses on Hegel’s philosophy and its reception in contemporary thought, as well as Marxism, critical theory, and the history of communism. He is the author of Wojna i motłoch. Sprzeczności nowoczesne w filozofii Hegla (War and the Rabble: Modern Contradictions in Hegel’s Philosophy, 2022) and editor-in-chief of the academic journal Praktyka Teoretyczna (Theoretical Practice).

Learn more about Bartosz Wójcik’s project during his residency at INDEX on our website via the link.