The Concepts of Spiel (playing) и Kampf (struggle) within the Structure of the Conceptual Sphere of Power in the German Philosophic Tradition
The paper examines semаntic space occupied by the concepts of “Spiel” («game») and “Kampf” («struggle»), which, as the research shows, is comprehensively and systemically structured. The conceptual sphere of “Spiel” and “Kampf” is elicited with consideration of the basic propositions, proceeding from the lexical meaning of the words and the contexts of their usage, according to the representations of the five basic frames (subject-focused, actional, possessive, identificational, comparative). The quantitative evaluation of the concepts is determined according to their lexicographic descriptions: opposition of the singular and plural forms is registered in dictionaries and confirmed by the corpus of texts and language contexts selected for analysis. From the qualitative and quantitative perspectives, the concepts are assessed neutrally. Locative characteristics are found in the concept of “Spiel”. In the patterns of contact interaction, “Spiel” and “Kampf” perform several roles - those of the object and the mediative. The role of the Subject for “Spiel” and “Kampf” is performed by the basic concepts of “Kraft” (force) and “Macht” (power). Hannah Arendt sees struggle as the generic feature of politics - “struggle for power” (for the sake of power). And power, as she sees it, might act as the generic feature of life (Leben). Michel Foucault defined power by its generic feature as a game (Spiel), which, in the course of incessant conflicts and oppositions, transforms, enhances or distorts the balance of powers. Struggle (Kampf), from Foucault’s viewpoint, is a means of playing (Spiel), and, in a certain sense, is its form.