The dissertation is a comprehensive historical-philosophical study of the social science legacy of Yevgen Vasyliovych Spektorskyi (03[15].10.1875‒03.03.1951) ‒ an outstanding philosopher, jurist, scholar with encyclopaedic knowledge, public and educational figure whose academic activity in 1914‒1919 became an integral part of the history of Saint Volodymyr University in Kyiv. Professor and dean of the Faculty of Law (1918), the last rector of the university (1918–1919), one of the initiators and head of the Kyiv Scientific and Philosophical Society (1914–1918), he made a significant contribution to the realm of philosophy of law, methodology of social sciences, ethics, philosophy of culture, and left a noticeable mark in the history of academic philosophy in Ukraine.
As it is revealed in the dissertation, a prominent place in Spektorskyi’s writings belongs to the issues of philosophy and social science, which until now remained one of the least researched aspects of his multifaceted legacy. The concept of ‘social science’ penetrates the entire thinker’s legacy and covers not only the social science in its modern meaning, but also a complex of those theoretical and methodological questions of a philosophical and, above all, epistemological realms which determined the content of up-to-date knowledge about society at the end of the 19th ‒ the first half of the 20th centuries. As it is proven in the work, the study on key social science problems (ontological, ethical, legal philosophical, metaphysical, and religious) unites Spektorskyi's multifaceted intellectual investigations, and highlights the evolution of his philosophical views. In addition, Spektorskyi’s studies of social science, which prove his high level of knowledge of the history and current trends of Western European philosophy and science, became his kind of ‘a showpiece’ in the Western academic environment and ensured his completely organic inclusion in the circle of leading social scientists of the first half of the 20th century.
Concentrating on the social science component of Yevhen Spektorskyi's creative legacy, the dissertation aims at a historical-philosophical analysis of his work in this area, and at the outline of the content and particularities of his notion of society and social sciences at all stages of his intellectual biography.
On a basis of a complex methodological approach and a solid source foundation formed not only of printed works, but also of numerous manuscripts, documents, and materials from the archives in Kyiv, Ljubljana (Republic of Slovenia) and Prague (Czech Republic), a significant part of which has been introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, the author proves that theoretical and methodological reflections upon issues of social studies and a complex of social sciences presented in them constitute the core of Spektorskyi’s intellectual activity, and explores the transformation of his views on the social science throughout his entire intellectual biography.
In particular, the work demonstrates that at the early stage of the thinker's career the key role in his studies belonged to the examination on philosophical problems regarding objectivity of knowledge, the methodology of sciences and the study of social life in its ethical dimension. This period is associated with the reception of Marburg neo-Kantianism and marked by a powerful anti-positivist direction and attempts to build rational ethics as the foundations of a reasonable organization of social life. For the first time, it has been proven that Spektorskyi’s further studies of social science demonstrate a significant evolution of his methodological bases and an attempt to develop his own doctrine of social sciences based on the genetic method and historical-philosophical research into social science in the 17th century. Reconstructing Spektorskyi’s classification of sciences based on the ideal of rational science and the notion of man as a moral being endowed with free will and reason, the author finds out that Spektorskyi considered the defining feature of social sciences to be their moral character. Furthermore, she reveals the peculiarities of philosopher’s understanding of jurisprudence as ‘moral sociology’, thus an abstract and rational social science that works both with ideal norms of what is proper and with pressing problems and challenges in society. For the first time, the work proves the importance and reconstructs the content of the thinker's social science studies at the final stage of his creative evolution, characterized by a Christian world view and the development of Christian sociology, whereas maintaining devotion to the ideals of rationality and science.
Keywords: Yevhen Spektorskyi, history of philosophy, academic philosophy, methodology, social studies, classification of sciences, ethics, neo- Kantian philosophy, Christian sociology.
