Leonidas Donskis: moralės ir Europos vaizdo filosofas, viešasis intelektualas, politinis aktyvistas
Leonidas Donskis: The philosopher of morality and European picture, public intellectual, political activist

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to discuss the main features of philosophical and public considerations of Leonidas Donskis (1962–2016) in the horizon of his intellectual biography. The article overcomes the limitations and transcends the borders of the traditional in memoriam genre and seeks not only to present the significant ideas of Donskis but to discuss them in the broader context of contemporary philosophy, sociology, and Critical theory. The main philosophical propositions of Donskis are interpreted by the logic of development. The article emphasizes these features and ideas that are prominent in Donskis’ thinking: a) the idea of European picture is opposed to Heidegger’s critique of “The Age of World Picture”; b) the analysis of the figure of genius developed by Donskis is contrasted to Nietzsche’s theory of Übermensch; c) the original and innovative synthesis of the ideas of O. Spengler and V. Kavolis on the configurations and trajectories of moral imagination; d) “true-believers” were considered in the context of Ch. Miłosz’s “ketman”, as an example of multifaced traitor and conformist-liar; e) the figure of public intellectual was understood by Donskis as opposed to both the Russian and Soviet intelligent and N. Berdyaev’s critic of intelligentsia; f) the idea of literary-political interpretations was based on contemporary interpretations of the works of N. Machiavelli, Miguel de Cervantes, W. Shakespeare, G. Orwell, E. Zamiatin, G. Grass, M. Kundera, and T. Venclova. Donskis was especially involved in dystopian studies and their application to contemporary issues. He criticized the ideological doctrinaires, “true believers”, foundationalism (as well as nationalism and totalitarianism related to it), and supported dissent movements. Public activism, the presentations of grand pictures of Europe, and elitism make him a Promethean figure in Lithuanian culture and philosophy. His considerations were based on the methodology of the history of ideas and the analysis of the genealogy of moral and aesthetic imaginations. V. Kavolis, A. Štromas and Z. Bauman were the main inspirations of his ideas. He takes the idea of moral imagination and the concepts of trajectories and configurations of ideas from the books of V. Kavolis and applies them to the philosophy and ethics; he takes the method of application of literary studies to political studies from A. Štromas and applies it to contemporary society and dystopias. He also develops the idea of liquidity taken from Z. Bauman and applies it to the studies of national and cultural identities and contemporary cultural traits.

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