Summary
Dominique Pagani takes up the war in Ukraine on the very day of the invasion, linking it to his reflection on the edge. Ukraine means march, border. Drawing on Nerval, he argues that a border is a surface rather than a line, and that Ukraine is a relation, not a substance1. Behind this conflict he sees a war waged by NATO against Russia. He calls himself anti-Atlanticist rather than anti-American, and he defends Russia without declaring himself a supporter of Putin2. He denounces the unanimity of the media, Russophobia and the "mush of sentiment", drawing on Makine, Halbwachs and a former CIA officer. He also points to the presence of the far right in Ukraine and the rehabilitation of Bandera23. He calls for pacifism to be "dialecticized", using the example of the Finnish war. Later, he places the conflict within his critique of the "West" as a concealing concept and within a reflection on identity: in his view, the suppression of Russian after Maidan illustrates wars of identity4. In 2026, he accuses European leaders of sabotaging peace since 2022 and connects this war to fascism5.
- 1#10 Ukraine: from the problem of “edges” to the unleashing of war24 Feb 2022
- 2#11 Ukraine: mathematics unites men, politics divides them (Aristotle)24 Mar 2022
- 3Roots or migration? From analytical reverie to current events, from Hölderlin to the war17 Feb 2023
- 4Imaginary identity15 May 2025
- 5Their “Europe” means war28 Feb 2026
Introduction produced automatically from the 10 sessions on this theme, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the sessions.
The 10 videos
Cycle 14Their “Europe” means war
28 Feb 2026What is meant by fascism today, and why is war its worst expression?
Cycle 13Imaginary identity
15 May 2025Is identity a substance, or must it be converted into relation and function?
Cycle 12From fidelity to grace: from substance to subject
30 May 2024What does the separation of the Grail and the spear mean in the second act of Parsifal, and how can their reunion be understood as the passage from substance to subject?
Cycle 11Niger special: should we “blacken the corpses”?
7 Aug 2023What does the coup in Niger reveal about the situation in the Sahel and about the way Western powers wage their wars while managing public opinion?
Cycle 11War, neo-fascism: libertarian liberalism
3 Mar 2023What should be understood by liberal-libertarianism, and how does the confusion between the State and the State apparatus prepare the return of fascism and war?
Cycle 11Roots or migration? From analytical reverie to current events, from Hölderlin to the war
17 Feb 2023Between roots and migration, between the measure of the inhabited place and the pull of the infinite, how does man find his place, while war looms?
Cycle 10#16 Michel Clouscard: “There are no holidays in the concept!”
7 Jul 2022What does Clouscard's quip "there are no vacations in the concept" mean, and how does philosophy make problematic habitual concepts such as "climate disruption" or "the West"?
Cycle 10#12 From Kafka to Proust, the dialectical passage from the intermezzo to the perpetuated edge
7 Apr 2022How can we think the dialectic between the security of the hinterland and the peril of the edge, and what does it mean to stand on a "perpetuated edge"?
Cycle 10#11 Ukraine: mathematics unites men, politics divides them (Aristotle)
24 Mar 2022How should one respond to those who accuse Dominique Pagani of anti-Americanism and complacency toward Putin, and what does the media unanimism on the war in Ukraine reveal?
Cycle 10#10 Ukraine: from the problem of “edges” to the unleashing of war
24 Feb 2022What does the notion of edge, border and march teach us about the war that breaks out in Ukraine?