Skovoroda: Dichter, Denker, Mystiker. Volume 18 of Harvard Series in Ukrainian Studies: Frankfurt am Main, Verlag Peter Lang / Fink, 1974, 233 S.

Dmytro Chyzhevskyi's work Skovoroda: Dichter, Denker, Mystiker was published in 1974 in the Harvard Series in Ukrainian Studies. The publication appeared in the context of the development of Ukrainian studies in the West and the active scientific activity of the Ukrainian intellectual diaspora. During this period, research into the history of Ukrainian philosophy was largely carried out outside the Soviet Union, which allowed scholars to consider the Ukrainian intellectual tradition in a broader European context. Chyzhevskyi's work is an expanded and revised version of his previous 1934 research on Hryhoriy Skovoroda, and has become one of the most influential works devoted to the interpretation of the thinker's work.

In the book, the author offers a comprehensive analysis of Skovoroda's philosophy, emphasizing three key dimensions of his figure: poet, thinker, and mystic. The structure of the book is built in such a way as to gradually reveal the philosophical system: first, Skovoroda's life and his intellectual environment are described. Next, he moves on to the basic principles of his philosophy, after which he analyzes metaphysical ideas about the world and God. The following chapters are devoted to the doctrine of man (anthropology) and ethical ideas. The study concludes with an examination of the mystical aspect of Skovoroda's philosophy and his work as a poet.

Chyzhevskyi considers the philosopher not only as a representative of the Ukrainian spiritual tradition, but also as a thinker whose ideas were formed in the context of European intellectual history. He pays considerable attention to the symbolic nature of Skovoroda's philosophical language, analyzing his texts as a kind of system of allegories and biblical images through which the metaphysical content of his teachings is expressed.

A separate aspect of the study is the interpretation of the central idea of ​​Skovoroda's philosophy - the principle of self-knowledge. Chyzhevskyi shows that this topic is connected with the doctrine of the "inner man", which has its roots in the Christian mystical tradition. In this context, the author also traces the influences of European mysticism, Baroque spirituality, and Pietism, demonstrating that Skovoroda’s philosophy emerges as a complex synthesis of biblical symbolism, Neoplatonic motifs, and Baroque culture.

Thus, Chyzhevskyi’s work offers an interpretation of Skovoroda as a thinker whose philosophy combines poetic form, mystical experience, and rational understanding of spiritual life. Thanks to this approach, the book has become an important contribution to the study of the Ukrainian philosophical tradition and its place in the European history of ideas.

Inhalt:

Vorrede

I. Der Mensch und sein Schicksal

1. Skovorodas Leben

2. Die geistige Umwelt

II. Grundsätze

3. Coincidentia oppositorum

4. Kreis der Kreise

5. Alles Vergängliche ist nur ein Gleichnis

6. Die symbolische Welt

III. Metaphysik

7. Materie

8. Baum der Ewigkeit und sein Schatten

9. Gott

10. Die Weisheit

11. Die Pflanze als Sinnbild des Kosmos

IV. Anthropologie

12. Der innere Mensch

13. Das Herz

14. Sinnbilder des inneren Menschen

15. Der Abgrund

16. Mikrokosmos

17. Erkenntnis

V. Ethik

18. Die Welt

19. „Ungleiche Gleichheit“

20. Die Reinigung

VI. Mystik

21. Die Vergöttlichung

22. „Die Ruhe Gottes“

23. Der mystische Weg Skovorodas

24. Skovoroda und die Kirche

VII. Der mystische Dichter

25. Skovoroda als Dichter

26. Die Reform der Versdichtung

Schlußbemerkungen

Bibliographische Hinweise

Die Werke Skovorodas

Anmerkungen

Namenindex