On the Interpretations of the Phenomenon of Civil War in Ancient Philosophy: Stasis and Bellum Civile

Abstract

The concept of civil war remains relatively underdeveloped given a steadily increasing interest of political philosophers in the study of civil conflicts in general. The multi-layered genealogy of this notion includes elements of significantly different approaches to its definition. The two divergent lines of interpretation of the phenomenon of civil wars can be traced back to the ancient philosophy: the Greek stasis and the Roman bellum civile. In recent years, the concept of stasis is making a comeback to the academic circles due to its use in the works of Nicole Loraux, Giorgio Agamben and a number of other authors. At the same time, the dominant approach to analyzing civil wars is based primarily on their perception in line with the Roman concept, which presupposes a monistic social ontology model and has significant limitations when applied to modern conditions. In the article, the author analyzes the main features of the perception of the phenomenon of civil wars in the ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. Based on the texts of Plato and Aristotle, who elaborated the theory of stasis in the most systematic way, the author demonstrates that admitting the possibility to overcome just the extreme external manifestations of stasis (but not to eradicate it altogether) inevitably impacts the evaluation of the importance of pluralism in the life of a political community, the interpretation of the actions of the defeated party and memory politics. Hence, the author analyzes how the perception of a civil conflict as a phenomenon inherent in the life of the polis and, in one form or another, an “inevitable evil”, can again be relevant in the context of the philosophical and political discussions of the 21st century.