Religious and humanistic foundations of the historical consciousness of Ukrainians of the Renaissance and the Early Modern period

Abstract

This study is devoted to the phenomenon of historical consciousness and its dimensions within Ukrainian religion and philosophy. The purpose of the article is to clarify the worldview and theoretical foundations of human self-identification in Ukrainian thought of the Renaissance and the Early Modern period. The main task is to analyze leading trends in the comprehension of history and to identify the features of interpreting socially significant events in the works of Ukrainian thinkers of that time. Research methods. A holistic study of the essence and forms of Ukrainian historical consciousness during the Renaissance and Modern periods requires the application of a range of philosophical and general scientific methods. These include: the transition between the abstract and the concrete, the coincidence of the logical and the historical, comparative analysis, the hypothetical-deductive method, modeling, and idealization. Results. In the ideological and theoretical context, the question of human historical consciousness arose acutely during the Proto-Renaissance and logically moved through the socio-humanitarian issues of the Reformation to the content of the philosophy of the Enlightenment. The central hypothesis posits that Ukrainian philosophical thought of the 14th–18th centuries formed the concept of historical consciousness and began to actively influence the cultural and anthropological space of the Ukrainian people. The authors maintain that during the Renaissance, the comprehension of the achievements of Western European philosophy by Ukrainian thinkers was significantly intensified. The emergence of the conceptual foundations of historical consciousness as a subject of philosophical analysis is found in the religious and philosophical thought of the Late Middle Ages. This had a significant impact on the formation of the anthropocentric paradigm of the Early Renaissance, with its humanistic-pantheistic preferences, and mediated the transition to the Ukrainian (Cossack) Baroque. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the conceptualization of the historical consciousness of Ukrainians during the Renaissance and Modern periods as a religious-humanistic phenomenon. This phenomenon is formed at the intersection of the anthropocentric principles of Western European philosophy and indigenous spiritual and mental traditions. Unlike existing studies, the article considers historical consciousness not merely as a form of historiography or an element of national memory, but as an ideological and existential factor in self-identification and the preservation of the cultural continuity of the Ukrainian people. Conclusions. It is proven that national religious and philosophical thought of this period did not differ significantly from general European trends, yet it possessed certain mental differences. The foundation for the formation of the historical consciousness of the Ukrainians of that time was the interaction of both the anthropocentric achievements of Western European philosophy and indigenous religious and philosophical intentions that initiated the humanistic tradition as far back as the times of Kyivan Rus. The role of history is revealed as an existential factor in the elevation of self-awareness and the preservation of the national identity and uniqueness of the Ukrainian people. Prospects for further research involve an in-depth analysis of regional and personalistic models of historical consciousness within the Ukrainian religious and philosophical tradition. Furthermore, it entails a comparative study of Ukrainian humanism in the context of Central and Eastern European intellectual processes during the Renaissance and Modern periods. Special research attention should be devoted to the influence of religious-humanistic intentions on the formation of political culture, educational practices, and ethical principles of Ukrainian society in the Early Modern era.