Author: Olga M. Tabachnikova
University of Central Lancashire in Preston, United Kingdom
Translation by Russian: Tanya Neycheva
Published in Slavyanski dialozi, XX, 2023, 31, 37-55.
Abstract: The article compares the range of ideas and feelings of the outstanding religious philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda with the work of a number of Ukrainian and Russian classics (such as Taras Shevchenko, Pavlo Tychina, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mikhail Lermontov, Anton Chekhov, Yuri Dombrovsky and Vasily Grossman). First of all, we are interested in contrasting the inner sense of the harmony of existence, the ability to feel the immutable joy of being, on the one hand, and ideologized consciousness, speculative, abstract thinking, on the other. The connection of these phenomena with the concepts of nihilism, theomachism, atheistic worldview in their historical development is considered. At the same time, the philosophical problems of faith and faithlessness, the tragedy of existence and attempts to overcome it, the life of the spirit and soul are touched upon. Conclusions are drawn about the commonality of the spiritual branches of Slavic culture.
Keywords: H. Skovoroda, T. Shevchenko, P. Tychina, F. Dostoevsky, harmony, ideology, literature, philosophy, religion