The Problem of the Subject in the Concept of the Situationist International

The article examines the specifics of understanding the subject within the concept of situationism, presented by Guy Debord and a team of authors under the pseudonym Tikkun. In the course of the study, the author emphasizes the similarities and differences between situationism and other philosophical trends, where the problem of the subject’s autonomy was acridly put forth. The study demonstrates that throughout his research, Tikkun employs an array of 20th-century philosophic methodologies for evaluating the subject matter. These methodologies are based on key concepts drawn from the works of prominent philosophers such as G. Hegel, H. Arendt, M. Heidegger, J. Deleuze, and others. These concepts include “Bloom” and “Girl”, during the analysis of which Tikkun shows how they characterize the subjectification and desubjectification of a person in modern life, which is designated as Spectacle, i.e. absorption of culture by the logic of capitalism. The ideas of situationism are intended to analyze the modes of human existence, which displaces other modes of being of the subject, and to show how human subjectivity is preserved only to the extent that the Spectacle and capitalism need to maintain control over the individual. As a result, the author comes to the following conclusions: 1) The concept of Bloom defines a subject who is unable to form stable forms of existence due to alienation from himself, society and culture; 2) Bloom exists in a world without transcendental values, since the world of the Spectacle recognizes only the ethics of prestige or benefit; 3) Modern man splits into a weak subject and a strong image, since the culture of capitalism has introduced into the culture extremely strong tools of alienation.