UKRAINIAN PHILOSOPHER AND EDUKATOR IVAN YAKOVYCH CHALENKO (1873-1937): A FIGURE ON THE BACKGROUND OF THE AGE

Abstract

In the article, based on the analysis of a wide range of sources and literature, the process of formation and development as a researcher of ancient philosophical thought, linguist and teacher from Poltava I. Chalenko, a talented scientist, an outstanding personality who fell into the grindstone of historical events of the first half of the twentieth century. His life, work and scientific heritage provide an opportunity to clearly see what was the basis for the development of contemporary philosophical thought in Ukraine, how philosophical views were formed and directed in the face of continuous ideological change and what determined the preservation of the basic foundations of Ukrainian philosophy. Scientific works of I. Chalenko, which in Soviet times for ideological reasons were removed from bookstores and destroyed, contain many layers of information and original scientific conclusions, which provides an opportunity not only to include I. Chalenko to the circle of well-known specialists in the field of philosophy and its history in Poltava region, but also to emphasize the need to pay more attention to the scientific work of educators (philosophers, historians, philologists, etc.) who did not live and work in large university centers, such as Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odessa, but in small towns, where then also developed education and science. Attention is drawn to the fact that in 1918 I. Chalenko, who then held the position of director of the Teachers' Seminary, at the same time took an active part in the establishment of the Ukrainian University in Poltava, lectured on philosophy to students of its Faculty of History and Philology. Until 1927 he taught courses in philosophy, modern philosophy, philosophy of history, general scientific methodology, logic, history of pedagogy in various educational institutions of the city. In 1921 he was elected secretary of the newly formed Poltava Institute of Public Education. Since 1920 he has been the chairman of the pedrada of the Poltava Pedagogical School named after M. Drahomanov. In 1925, when, as a result of the educational reforms of that time, the pedagogical school was reorganized and transformed into the Poltava Pedagogical College, I. Chalenko became its director. For various «compromising», from the point of view of the Soviet regime, connections and pro-Ukrainian sentiments with the beginning of the processes of persecution of the Ukrainian intelligentsia in 1927, I. Chalenko was administratively expelled from Poltava region, and in 1937 he was physically destroyed. It is emphasized that the fate of the scientist was the same as the fate of many members of the national intelligentsia, who under ideological pressure from the totalitarian state continued to be moral leaders and educators, preserved and tried to expand national and cultural values.