Contemporary Ukrainian Youth in the Dialogue with Hryhorii Skovoroda: Some Results of Field Research

Abstract

The article presents the results of an empirical study in the form of Computer Assisted Web Interviewing of the target audience – students of the 7 Ukrainian Higher Education Institutions from the main macro-regions (except for the occupied territories) – on their perception of the figure and ideas of the Ukrainian philosopher, writer, educator Hryhorii Skovoroda (1722–1794). A non-ordered random survey was conducted in cooperation with professors of the Higher Education Institutions. The questionnaire has been developed by Prof. N. Dichek. The key ideas of the thinker about the meaning of life and the understanding of happiness, identified by N. Dichek in previous studies, have become the theoretical basis of the questionnaire. The field study has been conducted in 2 stages: before the start of the Russian aggression against Ukraine (198 people managed to take part in winter) and during the full-scale military aggression (228 people in summer). During both sections, students wereasked to answer the same questions, which ensured the comparability of the results. It has been found that H. Skovoroda is a conscious personified component of national historical memory (more than 90% of respondents); for 20% of the participants, he is also a role model. The most perceived of the proposed ethical and philosophical concepts of H. Skovoroda was the concept of the need for self-knowledge in order to achieve happiness (more than 50%). About 28% of participants share the idea of ​​a correlation between the achievement of happiness and the performance of labour corresponding to natural inclinations, only 13 – 15% agreed with low value of material benefits. 97% of the students answered that the war influenced their understanding of happiness (the altruistic component increased).