The Idea of Serving the Fatherland in the Focus of Modern Philosophy

Aim. To provide an ontological and historical-philosophical rethinking of the category of service as a form of individual participation in the political, cultural, and spiritual holistic existence of society. It focuses on how identity transformation, 21st century biopolitical processes, and the crisis of institutions require a new understanding of service that goes beyond normative duty and functional loyalty.
Methodology. The study is based on an interdisciplinary approach, including historical-philosophical analysis, conceptual reconstruction, and hermeneutic interpretation of texts by classical and contemporary thinkers, as well as a critique of service ideologemes developed in theories of biopolitics and political ontology. Comparative analysis, a deconstructive approach to power and subjectivity, and concepts of recognition and identity are utilized.
Results. It is demonstrated that the idea of service possesses a multi-layered structure and significant historical depth, dating back to ancient political virtue, Christian anthropology, and the modern concept of subject autonomy. The specificity of the Russian philosophical tradition is revealed, within which service is conceptualized through the categories of conciliarity, spiritual responsibility, and historical destiny. It is substantiated that in the biopolitical reality of the 21st century, service is losing its predominantly institutional character and acquiring the status of an existential choice, implying responsibility to a common future, collective memory, and the vulnerable structures of the social world.
Research implications. The theoretical significance lies in the development of an ontologically expanded concept of service as a form of individual existence within a cultural-historical whole. It is proposed to interpret service not as a mechanism of subordination or a function of the state, but as an existential and ethical form of human participation in the development of a common world. The work thus contributes to contemporary philosophy of identity, political ontology, and the ethics of responsibility, creating conceptual foundations for a new understanding of service in the context of global instability and the transformation of social institutions.

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