The cordocentric tradition of ukrainian philosophy (H. Skovoroda, P. Yurkevych) as a source of V. Tabachkovskyi's philosophical-anthropological ideas

Abstract

The article substantiates the thesis that the cordocentric tradition of Ukrainian philosophy is one of the foundational national sources of the philosophical-anthropological ideas of Vitalii Tabachkovskyi (1944–2006). Drawing on Hryhorii Skovoroda’s teaching about the “inner human” and the heart as the core of one’s true being, as well as on Pamfil Yurkevych’s “philosophy of the heart”, the anthropological content of the Ukrainian cordocentrism is examined. It is shown that the defining feature of this tradition is the understanding of the human being as an integral, concrete and free person, irreducible to external, rational-formal or naturalistic schemes. Comparing these attitudes with Tabachkovskyi’s personalist-existential anthropology – primarily with his concept of the “polyessential homo” and the idea of the liberation of the personality from “worldview dictate” – allows three lines of continuity to be distinguished: the anti-reductionist defence of the concrete personality, the orientation toward self-knowledge and self-realisation, and the affirmation of the inner autonomy of the human being. At the same time, methodological caution is emphasised: the connection between classical cordocentrism and Tabachkovskyi’s anthropology is typological and problem-semantic rather than literally citational. It is concluded that reading Tabachkovskyi’s work in the light of the national cordocentric tradition is productive.