Ancient greek tragedy as an origin of speculative thought

This article focuses on the role of the ancient Greek tragedy in the formation of a speculative philosophy. The author argues that the tragedy model is a prototype for the Schelling’s and Hegel’s speculative metaphysics. Its dialectical structure acts as the general means of resolving the philosophical contradictions between dogmatism and criticism, freedom and necessity, the subjective and the objective. The speculative system restored the identity of freedom and necessity through conflict. The comparative analysys of the idealistic “philosophical tragedy” and ancient Greek tragedy revealed their deep internal relationship. Based on Szondi, Lacoue-Labarthe and Bataille, the author argues that the speculative tragedy, based on the principles of Aristotle’s theory of catharsis, and the mimetic nature of dialectical thinking are closely linked with the poetics of the tragic action, recreating the ritual forms of sacrifice.