IVAN FRANKO ON THE PURPOSE, SIGNIFICANCE, AND TASKS OF UKRAINIAN SCHOLARSHIP

The paper examines the views of the Ukrainian writer and scholar Ivan Franko (1856–1916)—Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Vienna (1893), full member (1899), staff researcher, and one of the leaders (since 1898) of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Lviv—on the purpose of research work in general and on the goals and objectives of Ukrainian scholarly studies in particular. Ivan Franko acted both as a national ideologist, viewing the social sciences and humanities as a factor in political nation-building, and as a universal thinker, reflecting on fundamental issues of life and its laws (the ontological dimension). In his opinion, domestic elite scholarship should not only address purely national needs but also engage with general human problems (the evolution of the universe, the development of nature and society, the existence of the individual, etc.). Distinguishing between purely cognitive and applied studies, I. Franko defended the autonomy and self-sufficient expediency of academic research, embodied in the activities of the Shevchenko Scientific Society. He argued that the development of fundamental studies defines a nation’s cultural level, while the task of public societies, publishers, and the press was to popularize research achievements. I. Franko set high standards of scholarly criticism and insisted on the unconditional pursuit of truth combined with a national perspective in the humanities. I. Franko believed that it was essential to assimilate the achievements of world scholarship, especially Western theoretical and abstract knowledge, to cooperate with scholars representing other countries and nationalities, and to develop universal human ideals and views. At the same time, all this should be considered through the prism of national sentiment, avoiding doctrinarism and scholastic theorizing, and grounded in a thorough study of Ukrainian realities.