The dissertation is the first comprehensive research of the statement and development of philosophical and legal ideas in Galicia in the middle of the XIX–XX centuries.
In the thesis the preconditions of the appearance of the philosophical and legal theory are analyzed on the divided and enslaved West Ukrainian lands. Theoretical analysis of social and political conditions for the emergence of philosophical and legal theory, the emergence of their dialectical approaches to human problems and rights in conditions of non-statehood increasing, the legal awareness of the population are considered. Unknown researches of Galician lawyers of the middle of the XIX–XX centuries such as K. Hankevich, K. Le-vitsky, S. Dnistryansky, V. Starosolsky and others are under research.
The appearance in Galicia of philosophical and legal ideas in the national humanities and their formation in the heart have been considered in the middle of the XIX–XX centuries, comprehension of processes of development of national philosophy is not locally, but in organic unity and affinity with the European legal context; the axiological archetypes of the Slavic philosophical discourse of the XVІ-ХVIII centuries, which were continued by lawyers-scientists of Galicia in the mentioned period, were emphasized; It was noted that Western Ukrainian philosophical romanticism in the dimension of European one, with its crisis in the nineteenth century were together; and the availability of four stages of the development of philosophical and legal ideas in Galicia in the middle of XIX–XX centuries is considered.
The first and most reasoned conclusion about the general processes of the development of the philosophy of law in Galicia is the presence of all its features of Europe in it. By adopting principles of Europe and through its involvement in other factors of the spiritual Europe, with its pre-Christian origins in the direction of European culture, Ukrainian culture organically manifested its features. The awareness of such an accessory has been proven by the highly educated lawyers, who grew and became established thanks to the philosophy of law with con¬tinuous national-cultural traditions – from the end of the XVIth to the beginning of the XVIIIth century, the middle of the XIX century, and further – in the first decades of the XX century.
Active research activities of Galician lawyers can be the confirmation of their national values and identity. In a tragic history Galician researchers did not lose their own face, preserved – albeit in a «capsule» versions – the roots of culturally progressive philosophy. It was about law and justice, equality and justice, which naturally fit into the ideological dominant to overcome problems of this time.
From the initiated Western-Ukrainian philosophical and legal discourse of the Galicia lawyers, in the middle of the XIX–XX centuries resulted not solved yet problems of contemporary philosophical jurisprudence: 1) the need for continued deep research of the legal heritage of Galicia, which is not for archive but for historical objectivity and naturalness of Ukrainian discourse with features of the European style of philosophy; 2) continuation of the philosophical and legal-linguistic investigations initiated by K. Levitskiy, for produce of its own professional legal language, which will contribute to solving urgent issues of modern philosophical and legal science; 3) researching the processes of development of Ukrainian philosophy of law as a unified system of measurement of this science in territory of Ukraine and its large separated territories and the comparison of the same stage of legal philosophy in Russian empire.
