Review of ‘Essays on the History of Philosophy in Ukraine’ In Dzvony, vol. 4-5, 1931, pp. 318-322

The author highly appreciates the work of Dmytro Chyzhevskyi, especially highlighting his attempt to outline the main psychological features of the Ukrainian worldview. At the same time, he argues with Chyzhevskyi's assertion about the connection between the internal focus of Ukrainians and the influence of Protestantism—in the author's opinion, this trait was inherent in the Old Russian spiritual tradition and rather testifies to the influence of the Eastern Church Fathers.

The chapters devoted to Skovoroda, Kulish, Yurkevych, and Gogol received particular praise. At the same time, Zaikin notes that Chyzhevskyi's portrayal of Maksymovych, Potebnia, and Ovsianyko-Kulikovskyi is too concise, and that thinkers such as Kovalevskyi, Luchitskyi, Lappo-Danylevskyi, Olesnytskyi, Ushinskyi, Skvortsov, Linitskyi, Ekzemyarskyi, Popel, and Malynovskyi were not mentioned at all. The author also draws attention to the lack of analysis of the influence of Western theology, humanism, and Renaissance thought on Ukrainian lands.

Despite these shortcomings, Zaikin considers Chyzhevskyi's work a significant contribution to the study of the history of Ukrainian philosophy.

Kateryna Skrypnyk