EXISTENTIAL MOTIVES IN THE NARRATIVES OF THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

Abstract

The need to investigate the peculiarities of existential categories in active and passive participants in the war is determined by the basic postulate of existentialism, in which existence precedes essence. Such a situation requires the use of a specific methodology that does not belong to the philosophical methodological base. The narrative approach is used to study the experience of an individual and his life space.
The article is devoted to the analysis of the situation of the Russian-Ukrainian war, worldview reflections of its participants. The main existential categories are considered. The narrative is used as the main research method. In the first place are the categories of absurdity of existence, evil, fear, despair, loneliness, suffering, death. Attention is also paid to the categories of freedom of choice, risk, communication and trauma, responsibility, fatigue, sense, values, and others. Emphasis is placed on the importance of non-material priorities for the existence of war participants. The phenomenon of memory in the conditions of war is analyzed as one of the driving forces for actions.
Existential narratives are characterized from the «classical» position of the French philosopher and writer Albert Camus and the «non-classical» position of the psychiatrist and philosopher Viktor Frankl. The choice of thinkers is determined by the need to discover different existential categories and their interpretation in the wartime worldview.
The article refers to the interviews and reflections of 2022-2023 Ukrainian soldiers, volunteers, medical instructors, entrepreneurs, journalists, managers, heads of charitable organizations, mostly women. A total of twenty one interviews are analyzed.