G. Skovoroda’s Philosophical Work in Aspect of Moral Improvement of Man

Abstract

G. Skovoroda’s creative work includes many contradictory teachings that originate in ancient and early Christian philosophy, but it is still clear to us that the leading idea of his work is the theme of man, his moral being. G. Skovoroda builds his ideal of a person who has common features with an ancient ideal. The teaching of a philosopher about two natures, which are the basis of the worlds he defined, namely, macrocosm, that is, the universe, microcosm, as projections of the universe, which is a man and a symbolic world that is a Bible for him – resembles the cosmic logos of ancient Greeks with an invisible nature that identifies with God. It appears as a worldwide mind and the law that organize the world, so in the understanding of the philosopher to live in harmony with God means to live in harmony with nature, to find the harmony of the inner world. An important issue for the philosopher is understanding and highlighting the problem of human happiness, which, according to the thinker, can be achieved through the moral improvement of man. The philosopher interprets human life as moral activity, introduces the concept of “related” work, which is based on natural gifts of a person: “if he does work without putting his heart into it he will never be a success”, but if a person lives according to Nature’s law he will certainly be happy [4, p. 11]. The philosopher turns to the Stoic Philosophy and the Bible, which defined his philosophical position – identifying philosophy with ethics, and his task is considered to teach a person to maintain peace of mind in a changing world. Divine will makes a person act in accordance with moral laws, that is how a person can find peace of mind. To build a harmonious relationship with the world, it is important for man to know his nature, self-knowledge. The divine law contained in the Bible, the philosopher believes, encourages man to moral actions. According to the thinker, the knowledge of the symbolic world of the Bible comes through the heart. The figuratively-symbolic world of the Bible cannot be known literally, by reason, it can be understood only by heart. The heart gives the opportunity to distinguish between good and evil, for G. Skovoroda the heart of man is an area of constant struggle of good and evil: “…all worlds consist of two entities: evil and good” [8, p. 154]. G. Skovoroda’s symbolic philosophy has common features with ancient teachings, his symbol images often have several meanings, but he never tried to break the material and spiritual world, but always tried to see spiritual in the material, that is why the symbol of “true” man is formed in the microcosm through a spiritual appeal to God. In his figurative and symbolic worldview every element of the outside world corresponds to the internal and external essence, form and matter, and the main purpose of man, as the thinker believed, is the knowledge of the inner essence of the world in which the truth is hidden “of two entities two thoughts and two hearts: perishable and unperishable, pure and unclean, dead and alive” [8, p. 145]. As L. Ushkalov noted, G. Skovoroda in his works appears to be a philosopher and theologian first of all, he is characterized by a combination of “poetry, philosophy, theology and religious mystical entertainments”, his symbolic way of philosophizing caused “many different, sometimes completely opposite, reasoning and sentences”[11, p. 35-36]. G. Skovoroda’s doctrine is a model of symbolic worldview, the philosopher tried to unite the inner and external human nature, and the divine essence of man can be got not only by mind, but also it can be felt with the heart. Self-knowledge, self-absorption, life in harmony with nature, says the philosopher, provides peace of mind. Realizing the need for self-knowledge, he tries to find the answer to the main questions of ethics, namely, through the specificity of the small world, that is a person, he understands the spiritual foundations of being, outlines his moral and ethical dimensions, considers good and evil, points the path to a “true” person. G. Skovoroda offers the way of moral improvement of man through self-knowledge, following the nature, which will allow man to know himself and turn to God.