Tsybenko M.O. Essential modes of collective memory and its symbolic representations. Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of knowledge 03 Humanities, speciality 033 Philosophy. – Cherkasy State Technological University, Cherkasy, 2024. The dissertation research conceptualises the socio-philosophical issues of memory and its symbolic representations. The focus is on clarifying the theoretical and conceptual foundations of Memory studies and practical forms of (re)constructing memory as value guidelines and markers. Collective memory is defined in the study as a category that reflects a socio-cultural phenomenon that arises in relation to groups of people, unites and identifies them within temporal and spatial schemes that determine the processes of remembering (preserving), recalling and reproducing the past. The study presents a holistic vision of the functioning of the collective consciousness and the unconscious, the role and place of memory mechanisms in it, and problematises the role of the past in individual and social existence. The conclusions of the dissertation research prove the concept of collective memory as (re)construction of the past through the formation of its images and symbolic transmission of experience. In order to substantiate his positions, the author refers to historical, social, philosophical and cultural sources, uses examples of cultural practices, social history, and his own art curatorial experience. The subject field of the study focuses on a goal that is important for Ukrainian society: the formation of a common value attitude to the past, overcoming and working through the traumatic (postcolonial) past, raising the level of national consciousness and preventing manipulation of public consciousness. The existential modes (modes of existence) of collective memory studied in this paper, in combination with the values, ideals, and moral norms prevailing in society, are a predictor of the patterns of moral subjectivation and human self-constitution of citizens, the basis for studying the mechanisms of political elections, implementing the tasks of the state strategy of national-patriotic education of youth and reforming the humanitarian sphere of Ukrainian society, laying the foundation for a peaceful and democratic future. The first chapter is aimed at clarifying the main theoretical and methodological foundations of the study of collective memory, presents a compendium and interpretive analysis of the leading views and concepts of scholars in sociology, social anthropology, Cultural studies and history, mainly from French, German and English philosophical schools and research platforms, each of which offers its own socio-philosophical analysis of the phenomenon of collective memory (M. Albwachs, A. Warburg, J. Assmann, A. Assmann, P. Connerton, P. Nora, B. Szacka, etc.) The proposed in-depth analysis of the conceptual content of the works of Western researchers allows for a wider use of their ideas and developments in the Ukrainian research field. The author proves the multidirectionality and multidisciplinarity of memory research from the point of view of sociology, various directions of philosophy, history, cultural anthropology, social psychology, art theory, and political science. Having traced the peculiarities of formation and the main ideas of the field of Memory studies in the context of the development of scientific thought of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and the societal dynamics of this period, it is concluded that the formation of a systemic theory of collective memory was preceded by systemic (interrelated) changes in the political, economic, anthropocultural, societal and scientific dimensions. The contextual multiplicity of popular scientific terminology for the phenomenon of collective ideas and attitudes towards the past and the processes of their actualisation is traced. It is found that the category of ‘historical memory’ emphasises the role of historical research and historical education in the formation of such ideas, while the category of ‘collective memory’ can actualise the role of group (collective) identification through such ideas and attitudes, the term ‘social memory’ emphasises the role of the influence of social factors (social determinism) on individual and collective memory and human existence, the concept of ‘generational’ memory may imply the connection of generations and the transfer of experience through these collective ideas and attitudes to the past, while ‘national memory’ focuses on the ethno-cultural characteristics of the memory of peoples and nations. The importance of the philosophy of memory and its social nature, the distinction between individual memory, autobiographical memory and the phenomenon of reflecting the past in the collective consciousness for many social sciences and humanities, in particular, sociology, social psychology, history, cultural anthropology, is revealed.
