Unstable images of the new age: ideals and horizons of the future in the visions of Ukrainian intellectuals of the late 19th - early 20th centuries

Abstract

Abstract. The purpose of the research is to analyze the views of Ukrainian intellectuals of the end 19th – early 20th century. The research methodology is based on the strategies of comparison and typology. The scientific novelty is associated with the study of the influence of socio-cultural macro-contexts, cultural and political metamorphoses, social transformations on the vision of Ukrainian intellectuals of the pre-revolutionary era concerning the imaginary future. It is shown that large-scale metamorphoses of the 19th century confirmed the hopes and expectations of European intellectuals for the grandeur of the scenarios of the near and far-away future. The article considers the main layer of ideas of Ukrainian figures on future associated with certain assessments of the prospects of Ukrainian revival in the twentieth century. It is noted that in the early twentieth century there was a significant modernization of ideas associated with the Ukrainian idea, caused by further politicization of the national movement. It is emphasized that such modernization took place in the form of vengeance for archaic Ukrainophilian projections. At the same time, the personalization of the Ukrainian idea as a national symbol (the Great Kobzar), as well as the inclusion of the all-Ukrainian universalism, elements of vitalism, which sanctified or legitimized the existence of the nation in time and space, expanded. It is noted that socio-cultural transformations, such as the revolution of 1905, the decline of social activity from 1907 caused significant changes in the views of Ukrainian intellectuals regarding the expected future. The authors highlights the different visions regarding the social indivisibility of Ukrainians, most of which were united with the opinion about the blurring of borders between states, layers, classes. It is noted that the World War I radically reformatted the horizon of expectations regarding the projected future. Thus, there was a significant reassessment of the prospects of the imaginary future associated with possible military-political metamorphoses in Ukrainian socio-political thought. Conclusions. It is argued that the vision of the future created by intellectuals of the pre-revolutionary era, in most cases, incorporated the leading trends of historical time, but usually it did not keep up with the rapid deployment of revolutionary and military-political conflicts.