Engels i Tołstoj. Podmiotowość w epoce wojny totalnej

The purpose of this article is to compare the philosophical insight on war offered in the writings of Friedrich Engels and Lev Tolstoy. Their views are treated as two different but complementary approaches to solve the problem of relation between the absolute and the real war, as posed by Carl von Clausewitz. According to Clausewit, the armed forces, including the supporting civilian facilities, could be treated as a sort of "war machine" which, in the time of peace, remains under control of political institutions. At the outbreak of war, the army apparatus tends to gain self-reliance, directing more and more to its own imperative: "destroy the enemy at all costs". This process is greatly facilitated by the prolonged lack of conclusive victory by either of warring parties. As a result, a "real war", which was started to accomplish some political goal, is gradually turning into an "absolute war", which is the aim in itself.