Title: A Phantom State or an Imaginary Polis (Greek motifs)
Abstract: Review. The article deals with an important political and legal aspect of history -- the formation and origins of such a phenomenon as a political utopia. Its classic example was represented by Plato Politeia that was formed during the fight against ideology and concepts of Greek sophists and political demagogues. The relevance of the subject matter is infinite because the whole subsequent political history of Europe preceded under the sign that Plato 's utopia. As a model it was perceived by both democratic and totalitarian ideologists of the modern world. In a Greek "phantom" State dialectically features of participatory democracy and tyranny dialectically mixed together. A polis simultaneously represented a territorial, extensional institution and spiritual and symbolic unity, a kind of a "matrix" from which later the modern statehood was created. Mythological thinking gave a polis policy elements of transcendent and sacred existence In those circumstances a concept arose that was later called political mythology or political theology. The dialectics of coexistence of two worlds: aggressiveness of the "evil empire," dark chthonian forces - all these will be recovered in an interpreted form in ideological wars of the later time. Plato managed to create an ideal state model that specified the style and fed the spirit of statehood and politics in the Middle Ages, and, in particular, during the Renaissance. It was at this time that a Plato Utopian model got almost modern interpretation. Nomos or a law was an integral part of an imaginary polis State that often was identified with it. The most important categories of the legal and political sciences, such as justice, truth, law, fault, equality, etc are considered in this work in a broader cultural context playing an important role both in the context of real polis formation and in a Plato imaginary state. Such thinkers as F. Nietzsche, A. Schopenhauer, W. Dilthey, Yu. Evola, K. Schmitt, E. Junger and many other philosophers, legal scholars and historians made their contributions into the study and development of the problem. In the article much attention is paid to the analysis of their attitudes and assumptions. The main attention is paid to the analysis of such categories as the law and its role in the formation of the polis-state. To this end, equally important role is assigned to both an actual operation of the law and its ideal significance. The author draws attention to the category of "imaginary" which is characteristic for the mythological and poetic perception for which political and legal consciousness in ancient times was remarkable. At the same time, he stresses the relevance of this category - without the factor of imagination neither active political activity nor productive law making are possible. Greek motifs still sound in modern political life.