ANTINOMICS OF THE CONSERVATIVE DOCTRINE OF P. KULISH AS SEARCH THE OPTIMAL MODEL OF A SOCIAL SYSTEM

Abstract

The sociopolitical views of the historian, ethnographer and publicist P. Kulish are studied. It was found that his work is based on the juxtaposition (antitheses) of spiritual and cultural phenomena and political practices with the aim of conceptually understanding the social realities of the existence of the Ukrainian people. P. Kulish's creative visions are relevant for post-Soviet Ukraine. They provide an opportunity to adjust the modern algorithms of Ukrainian state-building from the mercantile-consumer instincts of the corrupt political regime, which deliberately blocks the social elevators of the development of society for the purpose of personal enrichment and usurpation of power, to the strengthening of democratic values. After the tumultuous events of the Revolution of Dignity and the full-scale war with Moscow, the modern generation of our citizens is experiencing a catharsis of consciousness, in which stereotypes of slavish obedience and paternalism, mythologemes of Slavic friendship, passivity and absenteeism are displaced. In order not to make a mistake today in the election of a national state, one must draw correct conclusions from one's past. According to P. Kulish, the idea of Ukraine can be built on internal cordocentrism, and everything external, hostile to it and harmful to it, must be rejected. The large-scale social trials caused by the treacherous attack of Putin's horde set a new mode of being for the Ukrainian nation, which records the distancing from Russian autarky to national authenticity and European integration. We are convinced that democratic transformations of Ukrainian society will be realized when it is possible to avoid the "Black Council" syndrome, which P. Kulish talked about. Based on this logic, the issue of the consensus of the political elite and the solidarity of society is on the agenda of the current national state-building, as an alternative to the newest Ruin of the Ukrainian ethnos. The author emphasizes that the Kremlin's hybrid expansion is not so much a struggle for territory as an aspiration to fill the vacuum of Ukraine's post-Maidan identity with neo-imperial concepts. Successfully resisting Putin's despotism requires not only military means of coercion, but also the intellectual potential and creative efforts of domestic thinkers. The creativity of P. Kulish is an intellectual weapon of great caliber. His Ukrainiancentric position is not only relevant today, it sets an alternative paradigm to centrifugal tendencies and separatist movements. The conceptual ideas of P. Kulish, which are highlighted in our research, are able to give new impulses to the revival of the Ukrainian spirit and ensure the durability of the state-building process as a factor of selfaffirmation of the nation.