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To study the first question we should mention that Kyiv-Mohyla
Academy was established in 1632 by Petro Mohyla through the merger
of the Kyiv Brotherhood School with the Kyivan Cave Monastery
School. Soon, this college became the academy, that is, since the year of
1701 Kyiv-Mohyla Academy had become the first high educational
establishment among all eastern Slavs. It should be emphasized, that
Kyiv-Mohyla Academy wasn’t only the educational establishment, but it
was also the centre of scientific association for people of the Slavic
world. Professors and pupils from the academy became famous not only
in Ukraine, but also in Russia, Poland, and Belorussia. Among them
there were such figures and thinkers as F. Prokopovych, S. Yavorivskyi,
H. Konynskyi and the subjects, that were taught in the academy,
included theology, rhetoric and philosophy.
Solving the problem of “being”, the philosophers used the
traditional statement about God, considering Him as the beginning and
the absolute reason of the Universe existence. But this opinion wasn’t
generally acceptable. So, F.Prokopovych adhered to the pantheistic ideas
concerning the fact, that God is immanent to nature, is dissolved in it
(pantheism); other philosophers, in particular E. Husserl, H. Konynskyi
were sure, that God is the creator and the act of creation is disposable
and the world evolves by the given laws without God’s interference
(deism). As we see, national philosophic opinion is being formed and
developed within the framework of the all-European philosophy.
Special attention should be paid to the role of the natural and
philosophical approaches developed in the Kyiv-Mohyla academy,
which remained in the context of theology, but certain conclusions as to
the problems of substance were made. As the international students
study the theoretical part of the philosophic material by its connection
with history, we can site some postulates, taken from the studies of the
professors from the academy: 1- though matter was created by God, it is
universal and is the only substance of definite things and bodies; 2-
substance, that was created by God, is eternal and indestructible, and all
celestial and terrestrial bodies are made of the same material, and that’s
why they have the same quality; 3- substance is always in movement,
which is its attributive characteristic and moreover, it is inwardly
inherent of it, matter is capable of self-movement. All these observations
concerning the studies in Kyiv-Mohyla Academy prove it to be of great
philosophic, educational and cultural value.
Studying the second question, it should be emphasized, that the
personality of H. S. Skovoroda (1722-1794) symbolizes the whole
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