Materialism of P. Kropotkin: Ecology, Anticolonialism, and Aesthetics of Common – МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЙ ЖУРНАЛ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ

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Lana M. Uzarashvili
Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences
Goncharnaya Ulitsa, 12 str.1, Moscow, Russia, 109240
PhD student, department of aesthetics
e-mail: lana.uzar@gmail.com
ORCID: 0000-0002-4248-3165

Materialism of P. Kropotkin: Ecology, Anticolonialism, and Aesthetics of Common

Abstract: This article analyzes the work of P. Kropotkin through the philosophical dimension of Anthropocene. This article focuses on relations between ecology, decolonization and aesthetics. He viewed nature as a dynamic system, which development has a progressive form but not in the classical sense. The classical and at the same time colonial perception of development has a linear model perceived as universal. This means that the colonial state, seizing new spaces (land), imposes its perception of time (development) on the occupied territories. Such universalism plays a justifying role for the colonizer's policy: extraction of resources, alienation of land, exploitation of indigenous people. The lifestyle of the latter appears as «traditional», requiring modernization. People of this lifestyle are regarded as «backward» and immobile. Kropotkin makes it clear that progress is a differentiation, the emergence of new forms of life or lifestyles – not a modernization. He observed ecosystems on his expeditions to Siberia and Manchuria and studied extensive material from evolutionary biology, anthropology, geology, geography, etc. These studies resulted in discovery of the primary role of the principle of mutual aid among living organisms rather than struggle with each other for survival. Common as an «affective infrastructure» can stand as aesthetic ground for this principle, which is useful for building scenarios for future by experiencing the sensuality of coexistence. The principle of mutual aid indicates the impossibility of the classical linear scheme of development from simple to complex, which leads to assertion of the incorrectness of division of cultures into «traditional» and «civilized», because this principle is often found in its perfect form in «lower» animals, including insects. What we consider «civilization», on the contrary, is undesirable, because it deprives us of the chance for survival. The reason is the disruption of the principle of mutual aid through the creation of states and the formation of private property. According to Kropotkin, in historical science, wars also occupy a central place, and very little attention is paid to the daily practices of people. Telling history through the lenses of the victorious wars of European states is one of the forms of colonial policy, in which war is normalized and considered fair.

Key words: Colonialism, Settler Colonialism, Anarchism, Communism, Mutual Aid, Evolution, Linear Time, Progressivism, Imperialism, Animal Rights, Colonial Museum, Warfare.

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For Citation:

Uzarashvili, L. Materialism of P. Kropotkin: Ecology, Anticolonialism, and Aesthetics of Common. International Journal of Cultural Research, 4 (45). 56–68. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2021_4_56

DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2021_4_56