The article is devoted to the analysis of the modern character of the Gregory Skovoroda’s philosophy of education. Unlike his contemporaries, he focuses on connections of philosophy and moral virtue. This position contradicts the tendency of a modern institutionalization of philosophy in the way of one more discipline of the modern research university. However, Skovoroda’s critical position does not put into question the modern content of his philosophy. On the contrary, Skovoroda’s understanding of philosophy reveals the salvific ways of its cognitive and practical rehabilitation. It is because his philosophy teaches people to be wise not only the university campus but in all spheres of their own lives. That is why he speaks not just of philosophy, but of the “philosophy of the heart”. Contrary to Christian thought, he believes that human’s transformation is possible not through faith and suffering, but through the discovery a “new body” on the ground of self-knowledge and love for oneself. Unlike the modern classical philosophy, Skovoroda considers self-knowledge, not as a function of mind alone, and the heart as a dichotomy to the mind. In accordance with contemporary educational theories based on the idea of anthropotechnical turn in philosophy, Skovoroda deems the heart an instrument for enhancing the mind. Involving the heart into the sphere of rational increases the thinking of knowledge about the specific situation of its embodiment and the cognitive capabilities of its carrier. According to Skovoroda, an important consequence of such human transformations should be the overcoming of fear and hatred of the “other”.
Аналіз тенденцій міграції населення Землі показує стале зростання кількості міських мешканців. Водночас спостерігаємо тенденцію збільшення присутності у містах диких тварин, що не лише стають їх випадковими гостями, але й знаходять собі місце в містах, радикально змінюючи свій спосіб життя. Люди, перебираючись у міста, мають усвідомити свою невіддільність від його урбаністично-дикої історії. Наступ дикої природи на місто дає людям можливість переосмислити його концепцію, виявляючи життєдайний потенціал міста, тим самим спростовуючи його дистопічну неминучість.
The conference of the British Association of Slavic and Eastern European Studies (BASEES) in 2019 was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the event that marked democracy triumph and liberation of communist authoritarianism. The focus was made on the factors of this victory, in particular on the role played in it by intellectuals of that time. The problem of scholars’ public activity was brought to the forefront by the thesis that achievements of science and education are not only theoretical developments and their successful assimilation in the form of knowledge, but also the level of influence science and education have in the society. Transition from instrumental rationality to rationality of values enhances practical importance of intellectual activity. Addressing this issue is particularly important in the context of crisis in the values of liberal democracy and increasing distrust of rational knowledge and culture. Modern technologies of manipulating consciousness contribute to the strengthening of authoritarian regimes. Therefore, the experience of intellectuals under communist authoritarianism must teach contemporary scholars to uphold the values of freedom and democracy and maintain social optimism. The discussion on the fall of the Berlin Wall proved that the scholars’ civic and academic positions reinforce each other, thereby forming a powerful defence against authoritarianism. However, the reincarnation of authoritarian sentiment nowadays provides grounds for accusing intellectuals of their inability to face up the challenges of the present. Among those challenges, we should mention forgetting the horribleness of old walls and illusions on benefits of constructing new ones.
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