Fedas V. The scientific-theoretical basis of Mikhailo Maximovich's folklore studies practice. - Manuscript.

The first attempt to present the scientific and theoretical laboratory of Mikhailo Maximovich in an integral and system-defined way has been offered in this thesis. The author thinks that the stages of Mikhailo Maximovich's forming as a folklore researcher reflect the outlook and methodological foundations evolution and they are the logical result of his philosophical conception and civic convictions. The author proves that the theoretical foundations for modern folklore studying were laid at a certain time and by certain researchers who showed a complex approach to the understanding of poetical works written by common people and ethnographic facts. His theoretical and methodological principles were based on the outstanding achievements of the world philosophy, history and literature studying which were being developed then. The main attention in the thesis is on the conception of national roots, historical method, which were the foundation of Maximovich's scientific outlook. Baroque chordocentrical prerequisites of the philology development conception have been analyzed in the research. General theoretical analysis of Maximovich's scientific legacy and his formation as a researcher make it possible for the author to assert that the conception of artistic specificity of folklore and its connection with literature presents the only universal folklore researcher's approach to the development of Ukrainian philology, and together with the conceptions of historical method and national roots they form the general paradigm of Maximovich's outlook.