Negro Pavón D. (2014). Il Dio Mortale: Il Mito dello Stato Tra Crisi Europea e Crisi della Politica. Roma: Il Foglio. 109 p. ISBN 978-88-7606-532-3 Библиографическое описание: DOI: 10.17323/1728-192X-2015-4-199-203.

Mortal God—Dying God?

Alexander V. Marey

Associate Professor, Faculty of Humanities

Leading Reseacher, Centre for Fundamental Sociology,

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Address: Myasnitskaya str. 20, 101000 Moscow, Russian Federation

E-mail: amarey@hse.ru

The events of the last two months of 2015 which took place in the Europe and, especially in France, renewed once again some questions about the political nature of the EU and that of its members. Should we speak about the EU as a state? Alternatively, an empire? Is it possible to affirm an autonomous statal nature of the members of the EU? Finally, is the current depression in Europe purely economic in character or it is also a political crisis? These problems are not only for political scientists but also for philosophers, and each of them has their own answer. This review outlines one of the possible answers given by the eminent Spanish scholar, member of the Royal Academy of the Political and Social Science, and philosopher Dalmacio Negro Pavón.

The political philosophy of Negro Pavón is based on the recognition of the crucial distinction between Government and State. According to him, Government is the primary institution which existed in each hierarchical human society and whose existence was conditioned by human nature itself. While State was created by Government as a tool helpful for the administration. Each human community from the beginnings of its existence required Government but not State. These are the two main starting points of the Negro Pavón’s conception: political life is possible even without State; State is an artificial construction made by Government for the first time at the end of 15th or the beginning of the 16th centuries.