THE DEVELOPMENT OF UKRAINIAN SOCIETY IN THE CONTEXT OF H. SKOVORODA'S PHILOSOPHY

Hryhorii Skovoroda is an educator and poet, was one of the most original philosophers of Ukraine in the 18th century.His philosophy has direct references to the European Enlightenment.He wanted to answer the most significant social questions that were interesting for Ukrainian society at that time.The Ukrainian thinker as the philosophers of the European Enlightenment investigated such issues as society development, ethical and aesthetic ideals of a person and a person's moral characteristics for their own development.H. Skovoroda was interested in philosophical topics from a young age.His philosophical path began at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, which was the main centre of education in Ukraine.He studied humanitarian concepts of ancient philosophy, literature, history, Christian theology and classical philosophical teachings of the philosophers of the Enlightenment.On top of that, during his studies, the Ukrainian philosopher learned several foreign languages.These skills allowed him to communicate with Eastern European students who studied at the academy.In addition, H. Skovoroda with a special mission visited Hungary and Poland.After returning to Ukraine, he taught at the Pereiaslav and Kharkiv colleges, where he promoted his ideas among ordinary people and the Ukrainian nobility.M. Popovych in his article Hryhorii Skovoroda in the Context of the Philosophical and Religious Movements of the Early Modern analysed the originality of H. Skovoroda's work.In his opinion, the Ukrainian philosopher's constant readers and interlocutors were quite educated.He was also surrounded by intelligent people and children who aspired to philosophy.They understood H. Skovoroda's philosophy as something special, unusual, something that would go beyond church and educational approaches.At the same time, the Ukrainian philosopher's religious and philosophical ideas were very close to those who knew the figurative and symbolic features of the Ukrainian church tradition.To read Skovoroda's poems as they were read in his time, you must always remember that these are cants, spiritual songs.They are classically