THE CHILDREN OF THE LOGOS OR HOW THE CLEVER GREEKS CONSTRUCTED A CIVIL IDENTITY FOR THEMSELVES
The article studies the contribution of philosophy to the formation of political unity and the civic identity of ancient society. Ancient philosophy used to construct civic identity, consistently justifying it with physics, morality, and the concept of the best form of government. Initially, this construction was based on cosmocentric natural philosophy. The crisis of the Polis led to criticism of this concept by sophists and the development of the concept of civic duty of patriotism as a political category. Civic identity and patriotism in the eyes of these thinkers presuppose a political choice. The ancient experience of identity construction is connected with the appeal to science and rational argumentation. Modern identity theories often appeal to non-rationalist arguments, including nationalist ones. However, the concept of "national identity" is too ambiguous. State identity, based on national, historical, and cultural traditions, will constantly face the risk of alienating some people. The ancient experience of constructing civil unity by means of rational argumentation can be considered as a historical tradition, which "constitutional patriotism" needs to justify the modern version of civil identity.