UKRAINIAN PHILOSOPHICAL–LEGAL THOUGHT ABOUT THE ROLE OF THE HEART

The article is devoted to the analysis the role of the heart in Ukrainian philosophical and legal thought, the origins of which begin from the time of Kievan Rus. It is noted that the idea formed under the influence of Christianity about the special role of the heart in human life and activity formed a national cultural and philosophical legal tradition. It reflected the worldview of Ukrainians, their value orientations, the desire for harmony and decency. At the same time, cordocentrism became the worldview basis for a national understanding of law; ideas about the priority of human values over the values of the state; the desire to recognize natural law as the basis for existing law; the importance of human freedom for its self-realization, etc. The article analyzes the idea of the role of the heart and its value in human self-development and government by famous thinkers of the period of Kievan Rus. There is noted the influence on their views of famous Byzantine theologians who professed the deification of man associated with changes in the heart, and went down in history as hesychasts. Particular attention is paid to the cordocentric views of G. S. Skovoroda, which influenced the specifics of the national justification of law. The heart is the organ of love and perception of God, the sphere of the mind, goals and volitional decisions of man, the center of his morality and spiritual life. It is emphasized that such an understanding of the role of the heart by the philosopher became the basis for substantiation by him of natural law, ideal society, the meaning of «akin to labor» as the law of organic correspondence between the inner and outer natures of man. The role of the heart and its significance for the development of society and law in the philosophy of P. D. Yurkevich are also considered. It is noted that, in the understanding of the philosopher, the heart is the bodily organ of a person's spiritual activity, his spiritual center, in which there is a harmonious correlation of knowledge and faith, law and morality, justice and related natural law.