Exposing the hypocrisy slavophiles of the Taras Shevchenko historiosophy

The purpose of the study is to analyze the works of Taras Shevchenko in terms of the poet’s criticism of Slavophiles and to highlight the Great Kobzar’s journalism on the issues of national identity of the Ukrainian people and their right to original development. The methodology is based on the microhistorical approach. It applies an integrated approach to the study of the research material using such methods as: descriptive, biographical, intertextual, comparative-historical, comparative-typological method. This made it possible to fully reveal the range of problems related to the subject of the study. Scientific novely. Based on the analysis of Taras Shevchenko’s works, it was found that the unambiguous attribution of the poet to Ukrainophiles is not justified, although he was not a Slavophile of the “Moscow” model. In analyzing Kobzar’s attitude to Russian Slavophilism, the author took into account a set of parameters of this phenomenon, generated by the socio-political realities of the time. Instead, the exposure of the hypocrisy of Russian Slavophiles in the Great Kobzar’s works was evidence that the Slavic idea was only a basis for Ukrainian self-awareness for him. Conclusions. It is emphasized that the worldview of Taras Shevchenko is based on a hierarchical approach to understanding the essence of man, which enabled him to comprehend the process of life of a Ukrainian person in the context of an impersonal and personal paradigm of being.The study concludes that Taras Shevchenko pointed out ways to build a strong and independent Ukrainian state. The Great Kobzar saw the causes of the tragedies of the Ukrainian people in fratricidal wars, the inability to forgive and repent of their own sins, ambition and a tendency to betray, and the cunning of some representatives of the Ukrainian people. Taras Shevchenko called on Ukrainians to unite, which was to make Ukraine one of the most powerful states in the world, and his creative heritage reflects the national outlook of Ukrainians in the ХІХ century.