The image of Petro Kalnyshevskyi as a pragmatic person in the context of history of Ukraine

Abstract

The article explores the concept of "a pragmatic person" in philosophical and literary scientific interpretation. In particular, it has been found that pragmatism is a category that is referred to as one of the types of human worldview by researchers. It is stated that this human feature predetermines direct comparison of knowledge and truth to life and action. Pragmatism leads to the design of specific considerations about the significance of ideas, judgments, hypotheses in accordance to their ability to satisfy their own and social needs and interests in the most appropriate and rational way. The attention is paid to the fact that such person does everything only from the point of view of expediency and pragmatic advantage, in order to prevent the own thoughtless actions. It is noted that this feature of human psychology is also widely reflected in fiction. In the scientific and philosophical interpretation this concept was a certain category, which is purely theoretical. Then in the literary interpretation, if it is based on clear historical facts and events, a more meaningful and clear descriptive interpretation of a historical person is formed. Especially if it concerns the person who influenced the social and political processes of the Ukrainian people who did not have their own state until the end of the twentieth century.However, it is stated in the scientific work that the absence of its own state did not affect the formation of its own national elite, which was represented by the Cossack elder in the XVIII century. They saw the need to create their own state. One of them was the last ataman of the Zaporizhzhia Sich - P. Kalnyshevskyi, who became a symbol of the struggle of the Ukrainian people for the creation of their own state. That is why the purpose of the scientific work was to analyze the image of P. Kolnyshevskyi from the position of a pragmatic person in fiction. That is such a person who, during the modern period, attempted to be critical and unbiased in relation to those socio-political realities that were characteristic of the Ukrainian lands at the end of the eighteenth century. Attention is drawn to the fact that the study of the person and behavior of the last ataman is a very topical subject, which needs further research. It was founded that the image of P. Kalnyshevskyi in fiction is positioned almost unanimously. In particular, the ataman is characterized as a pragmatic person who understood the hopelessness of the situation that occurred at that time. The figure of P. Kalsnyshevskyi is clarified and argued in the article by analyzing the texts of the authors who devoted their work to him, in particular as a patriot, who tried at any cost to save the Cossacks as a state. It has been established that this feature stands out in the formation of the ideal of a pragmatic person in the context of history of Ukraine.