8.3. Ukrainian Philosophy of XV–XVIII Centuries

We come across the same ideas in the works of a number of thinkers of the XIV-XV centuries. That was the period of formation of the Ukrainian nation, which took place in extremely complex conditions of propagation of foreign expansion into lands weakened by a Zolotohordian (Golden Horde) raids. At the end of the XV century the North-Eastern Rus was reunified around Moscow. Meanwhile, the majority of Ukrainian and Byelorussian lands turned into the outskirts of the Polish-Lithuanian state, Moldavia and Hungary. This restrained the development not only of our material, but also spiritual culture. Philosophical culture, deprived the opportunity to be developed on its own base according to its own rules, could not fully experience the direct influence of progressive ideas.

The main research problems of that period exposed the basic philosophical problem - “Man - the Universe ": the structure of the world, ways of mastering it, man’s mission in the world and human possibility to achieve happiness. Humanistic ideas were promoted within the traditional religious worldview. The studies of socio-historical structure, man’s unique spiritual world, contradiction of Kyiv Rus - Byzantine cultural traditions to West European constituted the problem field of philosophy of that period.

One of the first Byelorussian-Ukrainian thinkers of the Renaissance epoch was Francisc Scoryna. He studied at Krakow University, learnt the works of Aristotle, pre-Socratics and Stoics. He continued his study in different West-European countries, where he was imbued with the ideas of the Renaissance and Reformation. He was convinced that Ukrainian folk could restore the fame of Kyiv Rus through Enlightenment, the centre of which was the Bible. For this reason he dedicated his further activity to translating and publishing books of the Holy Scripture in his native language. As a result, his “Rus Bible interpreted by Dr. Fransisc Scoryna from the Slav town of Polotsk” appeared. The translation of the Holy Scripture was in itself a big impulse for development of spiritual life in Ukraine. The characteristic feature of this edition was democratic interpretation of the Bible. The Bible, as he considered, grasps all the divine and world Wisdom from Solomon to Aristotle. According to Scoryna, theology was on the first place as the highest wisdom. It embraced such secrets, which could not be explained by human being and exceeded the abilities of his intellect. For example, it concerns the question of the world creation out of nothing. The Holy Scripture, according to Scoryna, executes the scientific and educational function; it includes grammar, logics, rhetoric, music, geometry, arithmetic, and astronomy. Scoryna talked not about the universality of the Bible in general, but only about the presence of “revelation knowledge” in it, which did not exist in other books. From that he deduced the dual essence of the Bible: divine and eathly.

It was at that time that Kyiv and Lviv Schools took the leading place in the propagation of ideas of Enlightenment and Reformation. Especially great success was reached by Lviv School, where such subjects as grammar, rhetoric, poetics, dialectics, and theology were taught. Petro Mohyla invited Orthodox teachers. These courses became the basis of study at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

Higher schools, in which philosophy was taught, appeared in Ukraine in the second half of the XVI century. In the 1770th Ostrog School (academy) came into being. Here the teachings of Aristotle were professed, and a textbook on dialectics was created. In the XVIth century Lviv Brotherhood School was founded, where among the works of philosophers were Greek and Latin editions of Plato and Aristotle.

In 1730s the Brotherhood’s and Lavra’s schools coalescened and Kyiv-Mohyla collegium emerged on their basis. Philosophy was taught first for three and then for two years there. In the end of the XVII century Kyiv-Mohyla collegium received the status of Academy. Collegiums appeared in Vinnytsia, Kamenets, Chernihiv, and in 1726 in Kharkiv.

Thus, professional philosophy in Ukraine appeared in the XV century and was developed in brotherhood schools and Kyiv-Mohyla collegium. Protestantism greatly influenced Ukrainian philosophy. This can be seen in the works of T. Stavrovetskyi, Petro Mohyla and Inokentii Gizel. In Moscow state their books were burnt as heretical. Platonism, Aristotleanism, Stoicism and Epicureanism were the principal philosophical currents in XVI-XVII centuries. This philosophy was used for rational explanation of Catholicism, as well as Orthodoxy.

Ivan Vyshensky (1550 - 1620) as a carrier of Ostrog wisdom believed that through self-awareness man became able to overcome his earthly form and enter a spiritual connection with the higher being. As a result, human reason enlightened by the celestial light penetrates into the hidden essence of important instructive words of the Bible and man himself turns from the being that is bounded with earthly desires and passions to spiritual person.

Ivan Vyshensky left sixteen works, most famous in his time were: "A Brief Message”, “Addressing to all Communities Living in Lyadskaya Land", "Book". In his understanding of correlation of God and the world the thinker aimed at exposing a wide spectrum of philosophical problems: ontological, gnosiological, ethical, socio-political, etc which he considered in the context of understanding of man and his happiness, human hopes and achievements. Substantiating God as the creator of all forms of life, Vyshensky proved that God is the ideal of goodness, justice and the highest virtues.

The opposition between spirit and body is characterized by Vyshensky not as harmony and coordination, but as an antagonistic opposition and mutual rejection that makes them be in irreconcilable struggle. Body is an earthly essence which devil uses to seduce man, but spirit is heavenly, ideal, which makes man noble, true and saved. The struggle of two world powers - God and devil, spirit and body - takes place everywhere and always: in nature, in society and in human souls. Claiming the controversial human nature, I. Vyshensky tried to solve the problem of temporary dimension of human existence. As the unity of spirit and body, man, on the philosopher’s opinion, combines temporal and eternal.

According to I. Vyshensky, man cannot be a blind toy of the two forces - the body and the spirit. The most important feature of man is free will that makes him responsible for the choice of life. Happiness is the spirit’s win over the body in the earthly life. It is acquired by means of right life and solid faith.Прослушать

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In the XVII century philosophy went on affirming self-appraisal of each individual in the spiritual culture of Ukraine; man’s individual self-consciousness was formed through self-assertion in unique public and political activity.

One of important characteristic features of the Ukrainian Renaissance was the combination of both ethical and religious ideas in philosophy.

Ukrainian-Polish relations were of great importance for the development of Ukrainian culture, including philosophy, as at that time Ukraine was a part of the Polish state. Thus, during the XV-XVI centuries 800 Ukrainians studied in Krakow University, many of them received bachelor’s and master’s degrees there.

Elements of capitalistic relations actually existed in the beginning of the XVIII century in Ukraine. This, of course, had its impact on the spiritual life of the society contributing to the development of the ideas of Enlightenment. In particular, there were ideas of appreciation of man, conceptions of informed absolutism, worry for the fate of their Motherland, and the attempts to raise self-consciousness and self-assertion of a personality.

The second half of the XVII century was the period of Enlightenment worldview formation in the development of the spiritual life of Ukraine. This was the time of active mastering and contemplation of the age-old achievements of West European culture, creation of its own scientific tradition for development of philosophy and science of the Modern Ages.

Kyiv-Mohyla Academy became the main scientific and cultural centre. The course at the Academy in the first half of the XVIII century consisted of eight so-called ordinary classes: analogy, infima, grammar, syntax, rhetoric, pieties, philosophy, and theology. In 1738 classes of Greek, Hebrew and German languages were added to these ones. Since lecturing of philosophy was more-or-less free each professor could construct his own original course. But in the second half of the XVIII century Ukraine was overwhelmed by feudal reaction; material state of this educational institution got worse, and rude interference of Synod into its affairs increased. The statute of 1747 made the most tangible blow for the development of science in Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Professors were to hand over the summary of their lectures to the chancellery (administrative support centre) to check-up whether it deviates from the teachings of the Orthodox Church. Consequently, the original courses, which were created by the professors, were prohibited. Philosophy, deprived of creative thought, devoid of critical attitude towards traditions, lost its originality. Later, in 1817 Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was dissolved, and in 1819 an ordinary clerical academy was established.

Philosophy in Ukraine in the XVII-XVIII centuries was closely linked with theology. J. Kononovych-Gorbatsky, I. Gizel acquainted students with the philosophers of Antiquity, with the main streams of philosophy of the Middle Ages, cultivated philosophical culture and created conditions to form independent philosophical conclusions. Many high-erudite professors appeared who offered original courses of philosophy.

The most prominent person among Ukrainian enlighteners was Theophan Prokopovych (1677-1736), the professor and the rector of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the head of the “scientific society” of Peter I, a well-known thinker of the first half of the XVIII century.

Theofan Prokopovych was the follower of West European philosophy. He regarded a perfect "heroic" man who embodies not only imaginary, but actually achievable ideal of man in his earthly life as a basic object of philosophical investigation. Foreign scientists considered him the most educated person in that period, whose works had affected many areas of culture and science.

The core of Prokopovych’s teachings of the universe is the notion of natural (physical) body, which he considered as a substance composed of matter and form. This matter is considered to be a common substrate and the only natural body, the source of their quantitative certainty, while the form is the basis of their qualitative diversity. Prokopovych’s thinking about the matter was affected by the development of science, based on which he came to the certain conclusions: firstly, unlike Aristotle, he argued that matter is consistent and uniform in all natural bodies, and secondly, matter created by God at the beginning of the world cannot be born on or destroyed or increased, or decreased.

Although the thinker believed that God as the eternal wisdom and the most perfect mind had been there before the world being and He is the first cause and the creator, but the truth is still not given to man in advance; it is a process of acquiring and building up new knowledge by humanity.

Participants in Ukrainian Enlightenment manifested humanism and breadth of philosophical views, religious tolerance, and the necessity of a scientist’s freedom of thought, which found its shape and substantiation in the theory of two truths. This teaching stated that scientific, philosophical and theological truth could exist independently from each other. Theorists and adherents of the theory of two truths among European philosophers were Descartes, Bacon, Scotus; among Ukrainian scientists this theory was used by Skovoroda, Yurkevitch, and others.

Ukrainian Enlightenment thinkers highly valued scientific quest, paying special attention to the method of scientific cognition. Studying the method of cognition, stated Prokopovych, dialectics prepared tools for investigation of all other sciences, since the method is the tool, that helps achieve cognition of each science; and the more improved it is the better is the result. Understanding of the method was based on Aristotle’s philosophy, i.e. the deductive teaching was in the centre of his attention. Devoting great attention to mathematical methods, Th.Prokopovych revived the lecturing of math at the Academy. He was sure that the mind, which was not enlightened by the bright light of geometrical knowledge, was unable to practice philosophy.

The end of XVII century and the second half of the XVIII century is characterized by intensification of the struggle of monarchic Russia for liquidation of the autonomy of Ukraine, Zaporizs’ka Sich, which carried out the functions of Ukrainian statehood, in particular. In Left-Bank and Slobids’ka Ukraine the foremen under the encouragement of the tsar administration enhanced the enslaving of country folk. The status of masses was even worse on the Right-Bank and Western Ukrainian territories, which were under the Polish power. The Orthodox Church was persecuted; Uniate Church and Catholicism were imposed against the will of the society.

Intensification of social pressure aroused aggravation of national-liberation struggle, which found its reflection, for example, in Haidamak movement and koliivschyna. Being spontaneous, these movements contributed to the propagation of social-nationalistic ideas of enlighteners, the most outstanding among which was H. S. Skovoroda.

H.S. Skovoroda (1722-1794) was a philosopher and a poet, who came from the family of a land-poor Cossack. Having graduated from Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, he renounced the clerical career, choosing the path of itinerant philosopher, a preacher.

Like the genius thinkers of ancient Greece H. Skovoroda built his life as a living masterpiece. In his quest he proceeded from the conclusion that the behaviour of most people does not correspond to their desire for happiness. The philosopher strived to lay down principles, which would help to avoid baneful path, and open to people the true way to happiness. His life became philosophy and philosophy became his life.

Skovoroda focused on religious and moral problems. He created a practical philosophy, without paying too much attention to theoretical maturity and formal systematisation of his ideas.

The science of man and his happiness, according to Skovoroda, is the most important of all sciences. Thoughts on this issue, which have religious and philosophical nature, were closely connected with the reference to the Bible and Christian tradition. They relied on basic Christian worldview categories: love, faith, death, and others. Thinking about them, the philosopher attempted to answer the question: What is man? What is the sense of his life? What are the main aspects of his activity?

H. Skovoroda divided the world into true and frail. He believed that understanding of faith and love an everyday necessity of these concepts. A man without faith cannot climb the highest peaks. But to see clearly, acquiring faith, he turned to understand their scantiness. Where bounds of reason end, there faith begins.

The principle of "Aware yourself" is known to belong to Socrates. Skovoroda brought it quite a new meaning. He did not merely assert the need to aware human nature, but drew attention to the cognition of the nature of human soul. Moreover, the thinker went further and considered faith and love not only as a basis of a soul, but also as a natural expression of human spirituality. Self-awareness gives man the key to solving all ontological, gnosiological and ethical problems.

Sadness, depression, boredom and fear are antipodes to love and faith and, according to H. Skovoroda, they oppositely influence man. They all make man’s soul doomed to relax, deprived of his health. So, the philosopher considered joy and courage the key to the soul health.

The category of "happiness" is formed on the basis of the union of love and faith in human awareness of himself. Happiness is within us. In understanding ourselves, we find mental peace. One can easily achieve happiness if he chooses the path of love and faith in his heart. All people are created for happiness, but not all get it, said Skovoroda. Those who are satisfied with honors, worldly wealth, power and other external attributes do not get happiness, but it is ghost, image, which eventually turns into ashes. Happiness is not in enjoyment, said the philosopher, but it is in purity of heart, and in spiritual balance and joy.

Human happiness, as Skovoroda considered, is embodied not only in spiritual searche and joy of heart, but in congenial work. If the kingdom of God is within us and abilities are given by God, man must listen to his inner voice. One must choose a pursuit not harmful to society, but even more it should bring him inner satisfaction and peace of mind. All pursuits are good if only they are performed in accordance with one’s own inclinations.

The specific feature of Skovoroda’s philosophy was the division of the world into two initials: eternal and perishable. It formed the philosopher‘s idea of two natures: "creature", visible and accessible to senses and God, invisible and available only to intellectual contemplation. He gave superiority to the Eternal initial or God, who is the carrier of essential characteristics of any phenomenon and who determines the existence of "creature".

Man as a microcosm includes two initials reflected in temporal incorrupt. Thought is the main point, which Skovoroda called the heart. Untill flesh and blood rule over heart, and man does not recognize their misery, the path to the truth will be stopped.

Searching for and finding out the truth is associated with the desire to repudiate human flesh and to realize oneself in the transformation of spirit. This transformation enables to find one’s own true being.

According to Skovoroda, a thinking man is a microcosm with his own laws of existence, free will and morality. Earthly life is a severe trial for man in his life and cognition of truth. Often external human being hides man’s inner essence. In their life people prefer visible to invisible. Often people assume error, arguing that they can aware their inner world without troubling it but using only means to enjoy the outside world. H. Skovoroda directed his philosophy towards the process of purification of such errors, exposed by self-awareness and knowledge of God. The process of self-awareness, according to Skovoroda, consists of three steps: 1) knowledge of man’s natural essential being 2) knowledge of man as a social being, and 3) knowledge of man as being that was created and runs according to the image and likeness of God. This stage of self-awareness is the most crucial because it gives man the understanding of general in relation to the whole human being.

Thus, in the novel "Its name is snake’s flood" Skovoroda explained the idea of the existence of "three worlds": 1) macrocosm - the eternal, unlimited and universal, 2) a microcosm - man 3) the symbolic - the world of the "Bible" which helps man to understand the unity of all these worlds taken together. According to Skovoroda biblical symbols open incorruptible reason in the normal human mind. Thus, the purpose of the Bible is to ennoble human heart.

The philosopher demonstrated the possibility of such transformations by his own life. H. Skovoroda gave an example of the Ukrainian spirit existence in the philosophy as a dynamic, original system of views, ideals, love, faith and hope, honor and conscience, dignity and decency. His philosophy proved to be the Ukrainian people's search and determination of his place in the socio-historical process and an appeal to humanism.

Ukrainian philosophy in the XVIII century was concerned with Neo-Platonism in the problems of man’s nature, his spiritual world, freedom and initiative activity as man’s self-perfection that showed its pre-romantic character. The problem of unification of human, God and the world was discussed in Ukrainian philosophy of XVII – early XVIII century (in its later stage represented by the philosophy of Skovoroda), it was not simply traditionally inherited, but it found its specificity in the form of typical traits of pre-romantic consciousness. It became the spring of philosophical-theological thought, which led to the formation of Ukrainian romantic worldview.

The priority of symbolism in the cognition of the universe was neither Skovoroda’s oddity, nor his philosophical discovery; that was the method of negation of philosophical rationalism, a way of proving the narrowness of discursive thinking. It was used by all European philosophers, which adhered to the viewpoint of Neo-Platonism. The appeal of philosophy to symbolism, on the one hand, meant that philosophy manifested its integrative function in culture in this way, and on the other hand, in polemics with rationalism that was the manifestation of irrationalism and mysticism of philosophy.

Pre-romanticism in philosophy, as well as in Ukrainian culture of the second half of the XVIII century in general, witnessed, on the one hand, the international character of development of spiritual life of Europe, the belonging of Ukraine to general European economic, social, political and cultural processes at least up to the middle of XVIII century. On the other hand, pre-romanticism in Ukraine showed the presence of sufficient material and spiritual preconditions for its formation.

The idea of historical method in European culture originated at the beginning of the XVII century. Gendel’s historical ideas, that the greatest value of historic epochs was in their national cultural uniqueness, were adopted.

Not many people nowadays can name a philosophical teaching, which would express the specificity of Ukrainian world perception, main characteristic features of national worldview and national psychology. But such philosophy, according to a number of researchers’ thought, first of all the representatives of Ukrainian Diasporas, exists. It is in those folk creations and professional works of art, which are the manifestation of the people’s soul, cultural traditions and spirituality. Its name is philosophy of heart. In general features it appeared in the XVIII century in the works of Skovoroda, and completed its formation in the XIX century in the works of one of the most prominent Ukrainian philosophers P. Yurkevytch. This philosophy was as a firm worldview position in Ukrainian romanticism. It was shared by M. Gogol, P. Kulish, T. Shevchenko. Its impact on Ukrainian spirituality and` culture was so great, that in a certain transformed form it found its outcome in the literature and arts of the XX century, as in the 1920-s, the same today. The secret of such influence was in the fact, that the essence of this worldview was based on the characteristic features of national psychology and imagination of the world by Ukrainians.