Myroslav Popovych: to be a human is to be a philosopher

Abstract

The article, prepared on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Ukrainian philosopher Myroslav Popovych and the 20th anniversary of the publication of his work "The Red Century", discusses the thinker Popovych as an archetypal figure for Ukrainian culture, his multidimensional scientific and public activities, in which the pursuit of truth is the main virtue of a scientist. Academician Popovych's entire creative path is full of service to philosophical science, paving the way for Ukraine's independence. The desire and search for truth accompanied his entire life. Even under the dominance of Marxist-Leninist ideology during Soviet times, Academician Popovych developed philosophy as a science, taking it beyond narrow ideological boundaries. This attitude is extremely important today, in the situation of "post-truth", "post-truth" and "post-morality", inspired by the contextualism and relativism of postmodernist philosophy. Both as a scientist and as a public figure, he was a philosopher of freedom, a protagonist of fundamental values: freedom, justice, solidarity. The article pays special attention to the book "The Red Century", in particular, it is noted that despite the fact that the "red century" has become a sign of the 21st century, the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to the Russian aggressors undoubtedly indicates that the colors of the 21st century will ultimately not be red or brown, but blue and yellow. The text emphasizes that Myroslav Popovych was an open, tolerant and dialogical person, striving for understanding with people and harmony in society. Without his creative contribution, it is impossible to imagine modern philosophy and science, the socio-political sphere and everyday life of Ukrainian people, and the development of Ukrainian society. After all, "to be human" is the testament of a great philosopher, and to be human is to be a wise person, to be a philosopher.