ჩხაიძე/ Chkhaidze, ირაკლი/ Irakli2023-07-172023-07-172023-04-27ივანე ჯავახიშვილის დაბადებიდან 147-ე წლისთავისადმი მიძღვნილი სამეცნიერო კონფერენცია, თეზისები, თბილისი, 2023, გვ.: 138-141https://dspace.tsu.ge/handle/123456789/2266Almost all parts of Georgian society view Ilia Chavchavadze (1837-1907) as a national figure. There is a lot of discussion regarding his legacy in both intellectual and popular circles. The groups, for whom Ilia is a cult figure, have completely different views on such important issues for the state of Georgia like the forms of nation building, models and directions of community development, foreign policy and others. Chavchavadze's image is frequently used to support different discourses on national identity. For some, Ilia represents traditional, conservative values; for others, he is the primary representation of Georgia's European identity. There are also those, for whom he is the architect of the Georgian nation's secularism, and those, for whom he is Saint Ilia the Righteous, who has been canonized by the Orthodox Church. The paper intends to examine Ilia Chavchavadze as a national hero, who is simultaneously the unquestionable leader of the pantheon of Georgian heroes with a widely accepted positive image and one of the most malleable names in Georgian history. Political or public movements, and the leaders of those movements, find "owning“ Ilia Chavchavadze as a hero, positioning themselves as those who champion his ideas, and speaking on behalf of Ilia to be particularly alluring. The figure of Ilia Chavchavadze is an "empty signifier," to use Ernesto Laclau's term, into which everyone inserts his or her desired content. The research topic is relevant because different perspectives and conflicting discourses on Ilia Chavchavadze have a big impact on contradictory political and social processes. Despite the abundance of materials related to Ilia Chavchavadze already in existence, hardly any works can be found in which the issue is investigated from a similar perspective.geიდენტობადისკურსიეროვნული ფიგურაIdentityDiscourseNational figureThesis