Apologetics of Culture as an Apologetics of War: the Case of Werner Sombart

SERHII MAKEIEV, Doctor of Sciences in Sociology, Professor, Head of the Department of Social Structures, Institute of Sociology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (12, Shovkovychna St., Kyiv, 01021)

smakeev950@gmail.com

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4418-8741

W. Sombart’s attitude to the First World War is characterized in the literature as extremely nationalistic. It made a radical revolution in his perception of the processes in world civilization. He saw in a new light the main conflict of the era — the conflict of national worldviews, and with it the purpose and meaning of the world historical mission of the German people. The war is a phenomenon that has a stressful impact on its participants, transforms feelings and mindsets, ordering the supreme authority of blood, soil, roots, and intellectuals are extremely sensitive to such orders. However, nationalism, even in minimal doses introduced into speech and writing, takes the spoken words and texts beyond the limits of scholarship, turning them into propaganda statements. So the 1915 book "Traders and Heroes. Reflections of a Patriot" belongs to the propaganda genre, which is an apology for the war. In it, the most famous economist and sociologist of his time justifies the war on the part of Germany by the fact that the development of economy, culture, communication, caused and promoted by market capitalism, turns into consequences that destroy the very foundations of human existence. Mainly — the growth of selfish individualism, the desire for comfort and the fullest possible realization of everyday needs and pleasures. According to the author, the war of German "heroes" against the "traders" personified by the British will turn the human race to recognize the paramount importance of high ideals of spiritual culture. This a priori introduced initial distinction is clarified by a set of dichotomous oppositions: "us — them", "high — low", "sacred — profane", "good — evil", "general — individual". Talking from a radically nationalist perspective turns the apologetics of culture into the apologetics of war. As a result, war is one of those rather rare events that are mythologized and mystified in the most radical way. In W. Sombart’s descriptions, the undeniable, as he is convinced, spiritual significance of war obscures and marginalizes the pain, suffering, loss and destruction that accompany it.

Keywords: apology, war, Sombart, propaganda, sociology

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Received 05.12.2022