The paper presents the problem of the political in metatheoretical perspective. Author has undertaken the analysis of fundamental theoretical grounds of intellectual reflection on the political and of analitical aims, which this category can satisfy in the political sciences. Author doesn’t privilege any concept of the political rather indicating several difficulties of conceptualization of this category: polysemy in public and scientific debate, contrast between the political and the politics or ideology, recognizing of the political like the core of the politics. The notion of the political is analyzed on the two planes. On the first, ideological plane, we can trait the political like the idea by which the academics, political philosophers and publicists try to understand the fundamental assumptions of the construction of society or to change social reality. On the ideological level we can enumerate several approaches: normative (e.g. J. Rawls), critical (e.g. Ch. Mouffe), existential (e.g. C. Schmitt). On the second, analityc plane the political is the category regarding the identyfication criteria by which we can treat some phenomena as political – in the institutional sphere and outside as well. On this level the notion of the political appear in four variants. First of them, as the feature of the social phenomena. Second, as the symptom of some domains of collective life (e.g. public sphere). Third, as an aspect of social phenomena. Fourth, as a type of social relations.